نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of managers' emotional intelligence on employees' creativity, specifically examining the mediating role of empowering leadership within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in Mazandaran Province, Iran. In today's highly competitive and knowledge-driven business environment, fostering employee creativity is recognized as a crucial strategic resource for organizational growth and sustainable development. The current study is applied in terms of its purpose and employs a descriptive-analytical survey method for data collection. The statistical population comprises employees of SMEs in Mazandaran Province, from which a sample of 378 individuals was selected utilizing a stratified random sampling technique. Data were gathered through standardized, validated questionnaires measuring emotional intelligence, empowering leadership, and employee creativity on a five-point Likert scale. The collected data were rigorously analyzed employing structural equation modeling (SEM) with the partial least squares (PLS) approach via SmartPLS4 and SPSS software. The empirical results demonstrate that empowering leadership exerts a direct, positive, and statistically significant influence on employee creativity. Furthermore, managers' emotional intelligence significantly affects employees' creativity both directly and indirectly through the mediating mechanism of empowering leadership. The findings also confirm that emotional intelligence plays a vital mediating role in strengthening the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ creative behaviors. Ultimately, this paper provides profound theoretical insights and lays a robust foundation for developing tailored organizational models in SME environments. Additionally, it offers highly practical, actionable recommendations for managers and policymakers aiming to cultivate an innovative workplace culture and enhance overall employee creativity.
کلیدواژهها English