Leader humility, team job crafting and team creativity: The moderating role of leader–leader exchange

Despite an increasing number of studies on leader humility, the relationship between leader humility and team creativity needs further exploration. Using the connectionist network model, we propose that leader–leader exchange (LLX), the upward exchange relationship of a team's direct supervisor, moderates the effect of leader humility on team job crafting, and this in turn affects team creativity. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 286 employees in 59 teams with a multiple-source, time-lagged research design. Our conclusions are as follows: (a) for team leaders with high LLX, leader humility is positively related to team job crafting, whereas for team leaders with low LLX, the relationship between leader humility and team job crafting is negative; (b) team job crafting is positively related to team creativity and (c) team job crafting mediates the effect of the interaction between leader humility and LLX on team creativity.