Job demand stressors and employees’ creativity: a within-person approach to dealing with hindrance and challenge stressors at the airport environment

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Date
2018-09-12
Authors
Antwi, Collins Opoku
Fan, Chong- Jun
Aboagye, Michael Osei
Brobbey, Patrick
Jababu, Yasin
Affum-Osei, Emmanuel
Avornyo, Philip
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Routledge
Abstract
Given the competitiveness of twenty-first-century airport landscape, catalyzed by airports’ evolution toward multi-service, and market- driven firms, a thorough investigation into employees’ creativity and its antecedents at the airport environment is warranted. Adopting the two-dimensional job demand stressors – outcome relationships framework and the cognitive-relational theory of stress, the current study interrogated the challenge (i.e. workload and time pressure)/ hindrance (i.e. role conflict and role ambiguity) stressors – creativity curvilinear relationships, and the buffering effects of within-person resources – dispositional mindfulness, and core self-evaluation. Using multi-sourced, cross- sectional data from employees in three airports in Ghana, the research findings showed creativity to have a U-shaped relationship with role ambiguity and role conflict, but with time pressure the relationship was an inverted U-shape. Employees’ workload showed a near-linear relationship with creativity, flattening at high levels of workload. Core self-evaluation displayed itself as an effective buffering component on role ambiguity – and time pressure – creativity relations but not role conflict and workload. Dispositional mindfulness interacted with role ambiguity, role conflict and time pressure – creativity relations, but not workload. To optimize employees’ creative performance, the study findings make a strong case for attending to individual-level factors necessary for stressors management. Further implications and recommendations are discussed.
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Citation
Antwi, C. O., Fan, C. J., Aboagye, M. O., Brobbey, P., Jababu, Y., Affum-Osei, E., & Avornyo, P. (2019). Job demand stressors and employees’ creativity: A within-person approach to dealing with hindrance and challenge stressors at the airport environment. The Service Industries Journal, 39(3-4), 250-278.