The Effect of Managers’ Sarcastic Behavior on the Creativity of Employees: The Mediating Role of Constructive Conflict

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Management, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

2 PhD Student, Department of Management, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

3 MSc student, Department of Psychology, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

Abstract

In rich cultures such as Persian culture, sarcasm has a great role in interpersonal communication, and its proper use can be a valuable motivational tool for corporate executives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of managers’ sarcastic behaviors on the employees’ creativity with the mediating role of constructive conflict. The present study was applied in terms of purpose, quantitative in terms of data collection, and descriptive-survey in terms of approach. The statistical population of this research was comprised of all the 900 engineers working on the projects of Telecommunication Company in Lorestan province, out of which 270 people were selected using convenience sampling. The data gathering instrument in this study was a standard questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed using Content Validation and Cronbach's alpha. The hypotheses of this research were tested using the structural equation modeling technique. The results showed that sarcastic behavior has a direct, positive, and significant effect on creativity and constructive conflict. In addition, the results indicated that managers’ sarcastic behavior, combined with constructive conflict, has a positive and significant effect on employee creativity.

Keywords

References

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Organizational Culture Management
Volume 18, Issue 1
April 2020
Pages 91-111

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