The effects of transformational leadership on employee creativity in Vietnam telecommunications enterprises

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of transformational leadership on employee creativity through psychological empowerment, creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 420 employees at 21 telecommunications enterprises in Vietnam directly by questionnaire survey. Statistical methods, such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM), were used to analyze the data. Findings This paper shows that transformational leadership indirectly affects employee creativity through the mediating variables. Transformational leadership has a positive relationship with psychological empowerment. Psychological empowerment has a proportional relationship with both creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation. Creative process engagement and intrinsic motivation have been shown to have positive effects with the employee creativity. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this paper is that the study only explores the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity through a number of the mediating variables. Practical implications The telecommunications industry is an industry that requires constant innovation, so managers need to aim for a leadership style that promotes employee creativity. Therefore, transformational leadership is a style that should be considered during the appointing and recruiting. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by focusing on understanding the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity in telecommunications enterprises in an Asian country with an emerging economy like Vietnam.