The Effect of Organizational Identification and Thriving at Work on Employee Creative Performance

Employees are key drivers of organizational innovation, and their creative performance is crucial for the survival and growth of an organization. While external and innovation-oriented management practices may produce short-term results, sustained and proactive innovation depends on employees' intrinsic motivation, continuous learning, and psychological vitality. This study, drawing on social identity theory, examines the effect of organizational identification on employee creative performance, with a focus on the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating effect of servant leadership. Using survey data collected at four different time points from 202 leader-subordinate pairs, the study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that organizational identification promotes employee creative performance through the partial mediation of thriving at work, with thriving at work-learning being more prominent than thriving at work-vitality. This indirect effect is further moderated by servant leadership. When servant leadership is strong, the positive effect of organizational identification on thriving at work and consequently on employee creative performance is amplified. Specifically, the mediating role of thriving at work-learning is more significantly moderated by servant leadership than thriving at work-vitality. These findings offer practical insights for fostering proactive innovation among employees and promoting sustainable development in enterprises.