Does ethical climate overcome the effect of supervisor narcissism on employee creativity?

Abstract

Using the tenets of learned helplessness theory, we propose and test a model suggesting how the perception of supervisor narcissism impacts acquiescent silence and employee creativity. We further suggest acquiescent silence as a mediator, and law and code ethical climate as a moderator, in the link between supervisor narcissism and creativity. We found good support for the proposed hypotheses using multi-wave data collected from 258 employees of service-oriented companies in North America. Results show that supervisor narcissism prompts employees to exhibit acquiescent silence, which also mediates the link between supervisor narcissism and employee creativity. The law and code ethical climate moderates the effect of supervisor narcissism on acquiescent silence and that of silence on creativity. Therefore, this study identifies a key factor, acquiescent silence, through which supervisor narcissism impedes employee creativity, and it also reveals how this process might be buffered by the law and code ethical climate. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.