Impact of psychological empowerment, work environment and flexible working hours

on employee creativity among employees of IT sector in Pakistan

Introduction
Rapid change, global competition, and an increasingly demanding environment have made the ability of
organizations to innovate crucial to their long-term performance. In order for the organization to survive
and succeed in a competitive business environment, organizations nowadays must constantly seek out
new technologies, products and markets (Amabile, 1988; Mumford, Scott, Gaddis, and Strange, 2002) not
only to organizations in developed countries but also to those in developing countries.
Creativity has become increasingly valued across a variety of tasks, jobs, and industries. In a dynamic work
environment, more and more managers are realizing that they need their employees to be actively
involved in their work and exhibit creative behaviors in order to remain competitive (Mumford et al.,
2002). Nowadays, understanding the dynamics of creativity in organizations is a high priority in
organizational behavior research (Zhou & Shalley, 2008).
According to Amabile (1998), individual creativity is classified by three components: expertise, creative-
thinking skills, and motivation. Managers can influence these components-for better and worse-through
workplace practices and conditions. Expertise and creative-thinking skills are more difficult and time
consuming to achieve than motivation. Intrinsic motivation stimulates high level of persistence and
creative effort in work contexts where creativity is clearly valued.
Several recent studies of leadership have examined the influence of leaders on employees’ creative
behaviors. Followers’ creativity achievement is likely to be mediated primarily by their degrees of
psychological involvement in creative processes (Carmeli & Schaubroeck, 2007).
Psychological empowerment is conceptualized as an experienced psychological state or set of cognitions
(Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Psychological empowerment relates to how competent or capable people feel in
an empowered work environment. Those who feel more competent about their ability to perform their
work successfully should feel more satisfied with their work, be more affectively committed to their
organization, demonstrate more positive work performance and have lower intentions to quit the
organization.
In the present economic recession, organizations are facing many problems in order to sustain
competitive advantage on the worldwide level. Technology is not stable in today’s environment,
therefore, organizations need to reinvent and have to become more innovative in order to take
competitive advantage optimally (Kahumuza & Schechter, 2008). creativity helps in searching the
innovative and improved procedures and ideas. Therefore, stress is being placed on creative capabilities
of employees within an organization. Can creative process engagement increase the creativity of
employees? If so, then how? Latest researches recommend many factors which must appear jointly for
enhancing the creativity of employees (Shelley, 2005). These contain intrinsic motivation, psychological
empowerment, abilities of employees, Organizational work environment and flexible working hours.
One of the many fields is the technology sector where creativity studies and researches have revealed
various different concepts. Employees know how they can tackle with the new challenges of the growth
for a winning change (Zegaier, 2012). For this purpose, ongoing supports to the employees should be
provided; upper management should also be supported in the context of information technology to
improve creativity (Kruse, 2013). Many researchers examined the effect of employee’s creativity, which
mostly focuses on subject matter of employee’s support where psychological empowerment was not
focusing a lot by researchers (Afshari, 2011). So, main purpose of this study is to construct and analyze
the theories that give the link of psychological empowerment and creativity along with a few other
variables. Two more variables also involved in this research such as, work environment and flexible
working environment. “The psychologically empowered state considered to be a cognitive state
characterized by a sense of perceived control, perceptions of competence, and internalization of the goals
and objectives of the organization” (Menon, 1999). It is proved by previous studies that psychological
empowerment in turn; make huge involvement to employee’s creativity (Wong, 2012). Employees who
are being motivated and empowered by their leaders show better results as compared to other
employees who are not motivated and empowered (Afshari, 2011). It was proved that employees who
are more motivated and encouraged by their leaders to perform their goals in a creative environment are
more creative (Hwang, 2012).
Employees’ individual characteristics and the work environment play a critical role in idea generation,
success and long-term survival of organizations (Shalley & Gilson, 2004). A work environment is able to
stimulate creativity because it provides physical and social stimuli that give rise to the generation of new
ideas. Creativity is part of how individuals learn and adapt to their environments and organizations and it
can be a key driver of organizational growth and performance. Work environments that stimulate
creativity will improve employee’s mood in terms of job satisfaction and intention to leave or turnover
intentions (Shalley et al., 2000).
The employers in all the organizations offering flexible timing benefits to retain their valuable employees,
it has been seen that it increases the employee’s morale, loyalty and enhances the productivity, reduces
the absenteeism, employer’s time and hiring cost. Flexible working hours not only contribute to improve
the general atmosphere and human relations but it also enhances the pleasure of work. In 21st century
the technological advancement has reached beyond the expectations and the frequent changes affecting
the corporate world have increased the need of workplace flexibility. It is a way of thinking and a working
that helps the employees to contribute and manages their personal lives as well. It can also improve the
employees‟ quality of life while enhancing business results. Economically, flexible scheduling makes sense
for employers competing in a global economy to hire and retain knowledgeable employees.
Hence, the primary objectives of this study are to conceptualize and to explore the role of psychological
empowerment, work environment and flexible working hours towards promoting creativity among
employees in Pakistan’s IT industry.
GAP
Many researchers examined the effect of employee’s creativity, which mostly focuses on subject matter
of employee’s support where psychological empowerment was not focusing a lot by researchers
(Afshari, 2011).

Problem Statement

Creativity is the ability to produce work that is both new and valuable (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996;
Amabile, 1998; Sternberg, 1999, p. 3; Dahlen, 2008). New means unusual, unique, new point of view,
varied, original, breaking from existing patterns and contributing something to the field which was not
there before. Medium businesses which produce valuable products or services indicate that the product
meets a need or solves a problem; it is useful, effective and efficient, serves a purpose and contributes
to society. Some scholars (Razeghi, 2008; Sutton, 2001) say that there are no new ideas, only
reconfigurations of old ideas. This definition reveals that creativity is still very subjective. The
subjectivity of creativity makes it hard to measure. According to Meetha, (2009) Organizational
creativity is a fairly recent field. Its objective is to study what makes certain organizations come up with
more creative solutions that are often translated into innovations and value creation. Developing
creativity involved creative thinking techniques (Riquelme, 2000) and this technique are helpful in
generating a large number of ideas in a short period time. Few researchers have suggested that
creativity can be promoted by creating an open, fun, trusting and caring environment where new
understanding is valued (Rice, 2006; McAllister, 1995; Mumford and Gustafson, 1988)

Psychological Empowerment and Employee Creativity:

The idea of empowerment has come out in 1980 at the place of work and gained a huge concentration
from education and business society because, it can be implemented in overall management and sector
performance (Lashley, 1999). Bowen & Lower (1995), explained empowerment by utilizing four
qualities: a) information regarding managerial performance; b) rewards supported on organizational
performance; c) knowledge which facilitate to recognize and contribute to managerial performance; d)
authority to make choices which manipulate organizational trend and work dealings. Furthermore,
Kanter (1979) affirmed that empowerment results from delegation, from reducing hierarchical level and
lastly from the employees’ contribution. These philosophies affirmed that double benefits will be
received by giving more control and authority towards employees. Empowerment can also be defined
from two perspectives i.e. from a relational (Blau & Alba, 1982; Bacharach & Lawler, 1980) and from a
more psychological perspective (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990, Spreitzer, 1995; Conger & Kanungo, 1988).

Earlier research suggested that empowerment critically influences employees’ creativity in a positive
manner (Ambile, 1983). Furthermore, Ambile found out that increasing interest in job tasks rather than
reward and punishment system triggers creative performance; moreover, people tend to generate novel
ideas when they have higher degree of freedom in setting targets and performing tasks. Digging deeper
into the said correlation, each dimension of psychological empowerment is discovered to have a positive
influence on employees’ creative performance (Spreitzer 1995; Spreitzer et al., 1997; Spreitzer et al.,
1999; Jung & Sosik, 2002). To clarify, when empowered workers realize how personally meaningful their
work is, this is likely to reinforce their willingness to accomplish significant objectives (Sun et al., 2012).
Besides, those who perceive themselves as being able to perform their tasks skillfully tend to be more
“cognitively flexible” and thus more open to adapt new ideas and solutions (Wallace et al., 2011; Wang
et al., 2014). Additionally, Spreitzer (1995) reported that staff’s intentions to think creatively are found
to boost when they can sense the impact of their work on the organization as a whole. Likewise, self-
determined workers are highly self-confident, which drives them to always pursue techniques through
which their work settings would be improved (Jung & Sosik 2002; Spreitzer 1995).

Psychological Empowerment:
Pieterse, van Knippenberg, Schippers, and Stam (2010, p. 613) indicated that “psychological empowerment is a
motivational construct originating in an employee’s perception of having choice in initiating and regulating actions,
having the ability to perform the job well (i.e., self-efficacy), being able to have an impact on the environment, and
the meaningfulness of the job.” Thomas and Velthouse (1990) defined empowerment as an intrinsic motivation
demonstrated in four cognitions reflecting an individual’s orientation to his/her work role: meaning, competence,
self-determination, and impact. Meaning is the part of the job characteristics model which concerns a sense of
individual’s work goal is important (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). Competence refers to self-efficacy specific to work
or an individual’s belief in their capacity to perform work activities with skill (Bandura, 1988; Gist, 1987; Spreitzers,
1995). Self-determination is an individual’s perception of having choice in initiating and deciding on the work
methods used to carry out tasks (Deci et al., 1989; Spreitzer, 1995). Impact indicates “the degree to which an
individual’s behavior can influence the strategic, administrative, or operational outcome at work” (Spreitzer, 1995,
p.1443). In looking at ways to empower employees, a key factor is the role of the leader. Leaders find different –
and often original – ways to influence their followers, one of which involves empowering leadership (EL) (Ahearne,
Mathieu & Rapp, 2005; Amundsen & Martinsen, 2014). According to Manz and Sims (1991, 2001), an empowering
leader is one who equips others to lead themselves and who is willing to share power with his/her followers (see
Randolph & Kemery, 2011; Vecchio, Justin & Pearce, 2010). Researchers and scholars agreed that empowerment
as a motivational construct (psychological empowerment) deals with the mind state of employees. Hence,
managers on their side should take the necessary actions of empowerment initiatives in order to positively
influence employees’ psychological state (Menon, 2001). This will, consequently, result in an improved level of
satisfaction (Chiang & Hsieh, 2012; Kue et al., 2008; Seibert
Subsequently, self-efficacy and outcome expectations of Lawler (1973)’s Expectancy Theory will be met and thus
enhancing feelings of psychological empowerment (Lawler, 1973; Conger & Kanungo, 1988; Thomas & Velthouse,
1990; Spreitzer, 1995; 1997; Meyerson & Kline, 2008).
A key objective of psychological empowerment is to release the potential within employees to make a positive
change in their work roles, work units, or organization (Seibert et al., 2011). Empowerment is one of the most
important factors driving organizational effectiveness and individual task performance (Ahearne et al., 2005), and
it has the potential to positively influence outcomes that benefit both individual and organizational outcome levels
(Liden et al., 2000). This study defined psychological empowerment as the process of putting employees in charge
of an organization’s authority to make important decisions and to be responsible to achieving their creativity and
performance.

Sub variables: (meaning, competence, self-determination and impact)

Meaning:

To consolidate the concept of work engagement, there are some psychological conditions should exist
such as: meaningfulness, safety and availability (Khan, 1990). This means that employees who
experience psychological empowerment feel that their contribution are meaningful and they possess
the ability to shape their work environment (Gregory, Albritton, & Osmonbekov, 2010; Klerk & Stander,
2014). The psychological empowerment dimensions are meaning of work, competence, self-
determination and impact. Meaning of work was described as “the value of a work goal or propose,
judge in relation to an individual’s own ideals or standards “(Spreitzer, 1995; p. 1443). The empowered
leader supports workers' understanding of the meaning and importance of work by providing
subordinates with information about the goals and mission of the organization. Also, the fact that the
leader delegates power to his subordinates will give them more autonomy. Thus, the empowering
leadership behavior is one of the main reasons for the psychosocial empowerment of subordinates
(Amundsen & Martinsen., 2015).
Meaning individual experiences means when he/ she believes that work is meaningful and has given
greater responsibilities (Spreitzer, 1995). Wang & Lee (2009) was aimed to investigate the interactive
result of psychological empowerment dimensions on job satisfaction and meaningfulness. Procedure of
data collection was from employees of numerous organizations, inserting three-way interactions among
the dimensions. The consequences present important impending for future theory development on
psychological empowerment. Wong (2012) focused on query what makes life worthy because it is all
about the human nature. In this regard, every human being has his out sets of thoughts that make his
lives meaningful. Some people have said that the money makes them happy whereas the other believes
in reputation. His finding was “the will to meaning” the key to living a worthy and fulfilling life regardless
of private liking and situation.

Competence:

Whereas, Spreitzer (1995) defined it as, an individual’s feelings of self-efficacy or personal mastery that
he/she can successfully accomplish a task. According to Bartram (2011) “Competencies mean a set of
behaviors that are influential on the delivery of preferred consequences”.

Self-determination: is a sense of choice in initiating and regulating one’s actions (Deci, Connell, & Ryan,
1989). Whereas, Spreitzer (1995) defined it as, one’s feelings of autonomy in making decisions in areas
such as work methods, time, pace, and effort.

Impact Whereas, Spreitzer (1995) defined it as, the degree to which an individual believes that his/her
work makes a significant difference in achieving the purpose of the task, and the extent to which the
individual believes that he or she can influence organizational outcomes.
Autonomy is the capability to obtain blame of one’s knowledge (Thanasoulas, 2000). Most of the times,
when the schools are operated within a culture of accountability; autonomy and responsibility go side
by side. Better autonomy in decision making belongs to set of courses, evaluations and supply
distribution liability which in turn are connected with better student performance (Ikeda, 2011).This
study revealed, when one should be allowed to override an individual’s right to non-interference and
when there were other more accurate prerogatives which can be secured on priority bases (Oshana,
2003). A formula which was made by many people is secured only when every one of them knows that
he is smart enough to take the stand of one among others and sensibly describes each and every view of
the query asked by other (Darwall, 2006).
Creativity:

Creativity means a technique of ideas and a technique of considering and one’s capability to find out, to
imagine and to observe in innovative conducts. It takes in a procedure of thoughts and associated talent
that a nation may be trained to apply in purposeful (Dahlberg, 2007). According to Dehlburg (2002)
Creativity means capability to react adaptively to the desires for the latest advances and new products.
It is fundamentally the skill to carry something new into subsistence.