Affect stability and employee creativity: the roles of work-related positive affect and knowledge sharing

In this study, we extend the affect–creativity literature by theorizing and validating the way the variability of affective experiences or lack thereof predicts employee creativity. Departing from the average of typical affective experiences, we introduce affect spin versus stability that reflects the dynamic variability of employee affect over time. Drawing on resource-based accounts of individual behaviour, affect stability is hypothesized to exert a positive indirect effect on employee creativity via work-related positive affect. We collected multilevel, multi-wave data from 149 employees and their supervisors. To calculate affect stability, we used daily data based on the experience sampling method collected over 2 weeks, resulting in 1,747 daily ratings from 149 employees. The analysis shows that work-related positive affect mediates the relationship between affect stability and creativity. Furthermore, knowledge sharing positively moderates the indirect effect of affect stability on employee creativity. We uncover the significance of dynamic affect variability towards creativity with the consideration of internal and external resources for employee creativity.