Ethical Climate and Creativity: The Moderating Role of Work Autonomy and the Mediator Role of Intrinsic Motivation

The current business context needs trust as a continuous mechanism of relationship with employees, because along with responsibility and moral standards, they configure a climate where the main perception is that the way of operating adjusts to ethical guidelines. Thus, establishing an ethical climate is of vital importance because it builds an interpersonal habitat that develops close ties based on positive emotional states. Such climate is a propitious scenario for other relevant variables such as work autonomy, intrinsic motivation or creativity to be related in a systemic way. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing how an ethical climate relates to employee creativity, considering the moderating capacity of work autonomy and the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in a primary sector, such as the Colombian electrical sector. In this sense, the research uses a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional and correlational-causal design. The sample is formed by 448 employees who were evaluated through an online survey. Regarding the results, an ethical climate promotes organizational creativity resulting from high levels of autonomy. When the latter is significantly reduced, the relationship between ethical climate and creativity becomes negative. In turn autonomy, in the medium levels, does not influence the relationship between both variables. Furthermore, ethical climate links with creativity through Benevolent and Principles criteria, but not selfish criteria. Finally, ethical climate and creativity are consistently mediated by intrinsic motivation. In conclusion, both the moderating effect of work autonomy and the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation largely explain how ethical climate links to creativity.