Ebullient Supervision - Meeting A Tall Order! Exploring The Role Of Ebullient Supervision In Developing Happy, Perspective-Taking, Thriving, And Creative Employees

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to explore the role of a recently introduced leadership style of ebullient supervision in shaping employee creativity, in the hospitality industry. Employing a purposive sampling approach, data were collected from 391 employees, working in hotels and restaurants; using a structured questionnaire. PLS-SEM was employed for data analysis. The findings show that ebullient supervision generated positive affect in the employees. Positive affect broadened cognitive skills by enhancing their perspective-taking which resulted in the building of psychological and intellectual resources in the shape of thriving at work. Thriving at work, then, stimulated employee creativity. These results, through broaden-and-build theory and affective events theory, empirically investigate and suggest a new antecedent of employee creativity in the shape of ebullient supervision which, through inducing positive emotions amongst employees, propels mental flexibility and builds their personal resources too. In doing so, being an original, this study makes novel contributions to literature and provides valuable insights for researchers and hospitality industry practitioners to stimulate employee creativity in the context of ebullient supervision.