INSPECTING THE ROLE OF EMPOWERMENT, OSTRACISM, DEFENSIVE SILENCE AND EMPLOYEE PROACTIVITY WITH RELATION TO EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Purpose: This study attempts to gain insight into what factor influence on employee creativity and perceived organizational performance. Therefore, a theoretical framework is developed grounded in empowerment theory workplace ostracism and defensive silence.  In addition to that the moderating role of employee proactivity is hypothesized between employee creativity and perceived organizational performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research design of this study is based on positivist paradigm and followed quantitative research approach. A survey was administered towards public sector organizations in Saudi Arabia. Sample size of this study is computed with prior-power analysis using G-power software. For data analysis 384 responses were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings: Results indicate that employee creativity is predicted by empowering leadership, psychological empowerment, structural empowerment, trust in leadership, defensive silence and workplace ostracism and explained  52.4% variance in employee creativity. Therefore, employee creativity and employee proactivity shows  55.1% variance in perceived organizational performance. Effect size analysis showed that structural empowerment had medium level of effect size when predicting employee creativity. Practical Implications: This study contributes to empowerment theory and enriches the innovative and leadership literature. Practically, this research suggested that managers and policy makers should focus on empowering leadership, structural empowerment, psychological empowerment, employee proactivity and trust in leadership in order to boost employee creativity and perceived organizational performance. Originality/value: This research is significant as it extends the empowerment theory with defensive silence and workplace ostracism and extends the body of knowledge on this subject. To the best of researcher knowledge this study is the first that test the empowerment theory with the moderating role of employee proactivity to determine employee creativity and perceived organizational performance.