Evaluating the relationship between human resource management practices and organizational ambidexterity: the mediating role of employee creativity

Purpose Creativity fosters innovativeness, competitiveness and sustained success. This study aims to evaluate the mediating role of employee creativity in the nexus of human resource management (HRM) practice and organizational ambidexterity. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 973 employees of 75 health care institutions comprising 48 (indigenously-owned) and 27 (internationally-owned). The positivist paradigm was adopted. Construct validity and reliability were established using confirmatory factor analysis. The study hypotheses and proposed model were evaluated using structural equation modeling Findings The study’s results show that ability-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity were positively related. Motivation-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity were positively related. Opportunity-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity were nonsignificantly related. Employee creativity mediates the ability-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity relationship. Similarly, employee creativity mediates the motivation-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity relationship. Nonetheless, employee creativity did not mediate the opportunity-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity relationship. Research limitations/implications The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s health care focus and cross-sectional data. Practical implications The findings of the study would provide valuable insight to stakeholder’s, policy makers and management of health care institutions in developing a supportive work environment that promote the generation of originality and novelty in ideas to ensure institutional competitiveness, competencies and innovativeness. Originality/value By evidencing empirically that employee creativity mediates the ability-enhancing practices, motivation-enhancing practices and organizational ambidexterity relationship, the study extends the literature on employee creativity, HRM practices and organizational ambidexterity.