A CSR Perspective to Drive Employee Creativity in the Hospitality Sector: A Moderated Mediation Mechanism of Inclusive Leadership and Polychronicity

Abstract

The hospitality sector, especially the hotel business, is at a crossroads. Dynamic business environments, rivalries, and isomorphisms in service operations are significant challenges for hotel enterprises. Fostering employee creativity is undoubtedly something that can well position a hotel in the face of competition. Research shows that corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions of employees for an enterprise can motivate them to be engaged in creativity. At the same time, it has also been mentioned that corporate leaders could significantly influence the behavior of employees. Nevertheless, employee creativity in a CSR framework has not been well-explored in a hospitality context. Moreover, the role of leadership, especially inclusive leadership styles, has been less discussed to spur employee creativity from a CSR perspective. To bridge the above knowledge gaps, this study investigates the relationship between CSR and employee creativity with the mediating effect of inclusive leadership in the hotel industry of a developing economy. Moreover, the conditional indirect effect of employee polychronicity was also tested in the proposed mediated relationship. For data collection, an adapted questionnaire was taken into consideration by employing a paper–pencil method (n = 427). A hypothetical model was refined and validated through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed that CSR can drive employee creativity significantly, and inclusive leadership partially mediates this relationship. It was also realized that polychronicity has a significant conditional indirect effect on the above-mediated relationship. These outcomes contribute to improvements in the hotel management, as well-designed CSR activities both improve the hotel’s image as an ethical enterprise and increase creativity among employees.

1. Introduction

Characterized by a dynamic business environment and a changing, competitive landscape, the contemporary enterprises in every segment are in search of new ways to survive in the face of competition [1]. This is one of the reasons that organizational interest in employee creativity has recently flourished more than ever before [2]. The hotel sector is no exception in this regard; rather, the need for employee creativity is high in this sector. The underlying reason for the above argument lies in the fact that most hotels operate in a standardized manner. Hence, a rival firm can easily imitate the physical outlay and service delivery patterns of a hotel. Such isomorphism leads different rival enterprises in the hotel industry towards competitive convergence, implying that there is limited room available to a certain hotel for differentiation. Given that creativity as a result of employees’ engagement is idiosyncratic in detail [3], contemporary enterprises consider employee creativity as central to their success. A report shows that employee creativity is one of the top-rated skills that contemporary enterprises seek in an employee [4]. Considering the knowledge and job experience of an employee, it is logical to assume that the employees of an enterprise can be regarded as a source of relevant innovation (inclusive leadership). Despite the increasing scholarly interest in employee creativity, the hospitality sector has not received systematic attention before [5]. Similarly, it is still unclear what determines employee creativity in an enterprise context, especially in the hospitality sector. To address these knowledge gaps, this study aims to explore the factors of employee creativity in the hospitality sector.

In an organizational context, the literature suggests that different organizational [6,7] and personal factors [8,9] influence individual behavior. In this respect, at an organizational level, the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) [10] and an effective leadership style were discussed at different levels [11,12,13,14]. Even from the perspective of employee creativity, the seminal role of CSR was emphasized by different scholars [3,15]. Similarly, leadership studies also highlighted the role of an effective leadership style, especially inclusive leadership, in enhancing employee creativity [16,17,18]. The greater focus of an inclusive leader on openness is something that places this leadership style at the heart of employee creativity [18,19]. Compared to other leadership styles, transformational leadership focuses on motivating followers to achieve different organizational objectives. However, an inclusive leader is central to fostering employee creativity because the central focus of such a leader is to accept the followers for who they are. At the same time, an inclusive leader also encourages the followers to contribute their unique capabilities, which ultimately motivates them to be engaged in different creativity-related tasks [20]. An inclusive leader is central to enhancing employee creativity in different ways. For instance, an inclusive leader is the promoter of openness in a workplace. At the same time, he/she encourages employees to share their unique thoughts [21]. Similarly, an inclusive leader builds a trustworthy relationship with the employees. Consequently, employees feel less fear that, if their creative idea fails, they will be facing any punitive action [22]. Moreover, characterized by inclusiveness, a corporate leader ensures the employees that he/she is available all the time to support employees facing new challenges. This is why several extant researchers have linked this style of leadership with employee creativity [16,23,24,25].

Nevertheless, in a hospitality context, the above relationships remain under-explored. Specifically, the mediating role of an inclusive leadership style in a CSR framework has not been discussed. Given that leaders are persons who act like a bridge between an enterprise and employees [26], it is important to investigate the mediating effect of an inclusive leadership style between CSR and employee creativity. Thus, a critical objective of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect influence of CSR (through inclusive leadership) on employee creativity in the hospitality context [18].

At the same time, polychronicity (preference for multitasking) was reported recently as a critical personal factor to influence an individual’s creative behavior [27,28]. The literature recognizes the moderating role of personal traits (polychronicity is also a personal trait) for behavior formation [29]. In this regard, the role of leadership was reported to influence followers’ polychronicity [30,31]; however, the conditional indirect role of polychronicity between the mediated relationship of CSR and employee creativity has not been investigated. Therefore, the last purpose of this study is to investigate the conditional indirect role of polychronicity in the above-proposed relationship [18].

The current study focuses on the hotel sector of Pakistan, a developing economy in South Asia. The tourism and hospitality sector in the country has been flourishing in recent years [32]. Estimates show that the net worth of the tourism and hospitality sector of Pakistan was around USD twenty billion in 2020 [33]. It is also estimated that, by 2026, the compound annual growth rate of the tourism and hospitality sector will be 3%. It is also expected that the tourism and hospitality sector will grow even further in the future [34]. The hotel industry in Pakistan has also grown at a fast pace during the last decade. With each passing year, new players join this industry. The better law and order condition in the country and the special attention of the present administration to the tourism and hospitality sector also helped this segment to grow fast. However, this growth and development of the hospitality sector has also increased the rivalry among different players. Further, the physical outlay and service delivery patterns of a hotel can easily be imitated by a rival firm [34]. Such isomorphism leads this sector towards competitive convergence, implying that there is limited room available to a certain hotel for differentiation [35]. In this respect, it is important to investigate the relationship between CSR and employee creativity through inclusive leadership, because innovation as a result of employee creativity is idiosyncratic in detail, which makes it hard for the rival firms to imitate such innovations [3]. Thus, employees provide a solid competitive base to a hotel enterprise. Therefore, investigating such relationship can help a hotel outperform its rivals through employee creativity as an outcome of CSR and inclusive leadership.

The current work aims to fill the gaps in knowledge in the following ways. First, the current work is the first one that aims to foster employee creativity as an antecedent of CSR with the mediating effects of inclusive leadership and the conditional indirect effect of polychronicity in a unified model, which has not been previously investigated. Second, this work tends to advance the field of creativity, especially in a hospitality context, from an individual perspective. In this vein, most of the prior research under the domain of innovation was carried out at the organizational level [36,37]. Despite the increasing importance of innovation as a result of individual creativity, the hospitality sector remained a less approached area of study. Lastly, a plethora of CSR studies were conducted in the context of developed countries. Given that CSR is culture and context-specific [38], applying the outcomes from such countries to developing countries may be unwise.

2. Theory and Literature

2.1. Related Theories

2.1.1. Social Exchange Theory

The theoretical roots of the current work are based on social exchange theory (SET), which was developed by Homans [38]. This theory states that, in an organizational setting, social exchange between employees and employers occurs on two bases: an economic base and a social base. The economic exchange between employees and employers is purely concerned with the economic objectives that each party receives from the other in the process of exchange. Nevertheless, the social exchange establishes a relationship between employees and their organization beyond the horizon of economic objectives. Blau [39] argued that the process of social exchange could not be limited to a specific concern, as the concept is so broad that it covers multiple aspects. Different extant scholars in the field of leadership have employed SET to explain different employee behaviors in a leadership framework. For example, the work by Ahmad et al. [40] followed the crux of SET to establish a positive relationship between leadership and employees’ extra-role behavior. Saeed et al. [41] explained the leader–member exchange mechanism through SET to establish a positive link between leadership style and employees’ innovative behavior. Several other examples can also be seen in the available leadership studies with respect to SET and employee behaviors [42,43,44].

2.1.2. Social Learning Theory

We also refer to social learning theory (S.L), which also logically explains the engagement of employees in creative tasks as an outcome of the social learning process. Developed by Bandura and McClelland [45], this theory argues that the social behaviors of individuals are shaped by observing the acts of others. When individuals observe the different actions of others in a specific setting, they imitate such behaviors on their part too. In a workplace setting, the role of leaders is important in influencing the behavior of employees. In this vein, different researchers have referred to S.L to provide a theoretical justification for how leaders influence employees’ behavior through a process of social learning [46,47]. The work by Dust et al. [48] indicated that the social learning process helps employees in an organization to learn different things from their leaders, which then guides them towards success. The same finding was shared by Shafique et al. [49], who stressed that employees observe their leaders in an organizational context. By referring to the social learning process, they argued that, after observing a leader’s actions, employees also practice it on their part.

2.2. Corporate Social Responsibility

As a founding father in the field, Carroll defined CSR as the conduct of a business that not only seeks to increase economic profits in a lawful manner but also considers its ethical and philanthropic responsibility [50]. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) also defined CSR as “the economic commitment of an enterprise with a focus to show a concern for the benefit of a society” [51]. Michael [52] was of the view that CSR is all about achieving business success by fulfilling its ethical responsibility to society and the environment. Dahlsrud [53] divided CSR into five dimensions: CSR for economic gain, societal benefit, environmental preservation, philanthropic spending, and caring for all stakeholders. Indeed, the concept of CSR has remained a topic of academic discussion for a long time. Specifically, from the perspective of employees, it was established in the literature that workers employed in a socially responsible organization are more satisfied and firmly believe that their work not only contributes to organizational success but also makes a difference for the community and society [54,55]. More specifically, the employees of an ethical organization face less stress, workplace vulnerability, and fatigue. Moreover, employees wish to stay with a socially responsible organization for a long time. Realizing the growing importance of CSR from employees’ perspectives, the extant researchers have linked the concept of CSR with different employee outcomes—for example, pro-environmental behavior [10,25], citizenship behavior [56], advocacy behavior [34,57], and employee creativity [33,58].

2.3. Polychronicity

The concept of polychronicity was first brought into academic discussion by Hall [59], who described it as an individual’s preference for how he/she wants to complete a certain task. At the same time, the concept of polcychronicity also deals with how a person approaches their time. In essence, Bluedorn et al. [60] divided polychronicity into two specific dimensions. The first dimension is associated with the multitasking aptitude of a person to complete a task in more than one way or to be engaged in different tasks simultaneously. Converse to this dimension are the persons with a monochronic aptitude who desire to first complete one task and then move to another task [61]. The second dimension of the concept is related to an individual’s belief that the way he/she completes a task is the best one. In an organizational context, polychronicity motivates employees to execute different tasks at the same time instead of sticking to a single task [62]. Empirical research has established a link between employees’ polychronicity and different employees’ behavior—for example, job outcomes [63], resilience [26], turnover intentions [64], procrastination behavior [65], and employee creativity [26,27].

2.4. Inclusive Leadership

Proposed by Nembhard and Edmondson [66], the concept of inclusive leadership has remained a topic of discussion among leadership theorists. Nembhard and colleagues defined inclusive leadership as “words and deeds by a leader or leaders that indicate an invitation and appreciation for others’ contributions”. Another definition of inclusive leadership was presented by Hollander [67], who believed that this style of leadership creates a win–win situation for an organization through a shared goal, a vision, and a relationship with the followers. Ospina and El Hadidy [68] argued that an inclusive leader is a valuable asset for an organization that accepts employees from all levels of an organization and listens to their ideas. Generally, there are three dimensions of an inclusive leader. First, such leaders listen to employees’ views and tolerate employees failing to achieve a task. At the same time, they provide guidance, encouragement, and necessary support to the employees. Second, such leaders recognize the importance of employee training so that employees with better training can deliver their best to an organization. Third, such leaders treat their employees fairly without showing any bias [17]. Indeed, inclusive leadership is the capacity of a leader to lead a team or group efficiently while respecting their uniqueness in a bias-free, empathetic manner [69]. Characterized by a dynamic business environment, contemporary workplaces face workplace variability, which places this leadership style at the heart of an organization as a modern leadership style [70]. Specifically, an inclusive leader balances an organization with different aspects. Not only does an inclusive leader quickly adapt to different workplace scenarios, but he/she approaches these multiple scenarios in open and non-judgmental ways to create unique solutions to different situations [71]. Research shows that an inclusive leader creates multiple benefits for an organization [72,73]. He/she also influences different behaviors of employees including their well-being [74], citizenship behavior [75], employee voice behavior [76], and employee creativity [18,24].

2.5. Employee Creativity

Amabile [77] defined creativity as the production of useful, novel ideas related to products/services or procedures in an organization. Slåtten et al. [36] believed that, as a personal factor, creativity is heterogeneous in nature. Creativity is dynamic and flexible, as it varies from person to person [78]. Oldham and Cummings [79] were of the opinion that creativity is the process of new idea generation or problem-solving of a specific issue in an organization. As creativity introduces novelty, it tends to be a risky endeavor. Carmeli et al. [24] mentioned that, due to the novelty aspect, in an organizational context, creative ideas unsurprisingly fail. Creative employees are individuals who are open and willing to take risks [80]. Ahmad et al. [3] argued that employees in a certain organization could be a source of innovation through their creative ideas. They further believed that employees could provide an organization with a meaningful source of innovation because they have profound knowledge of their job. Creative employees can critically contribute to the success of an organization, as they tend to bring some out-of-the-box thinking to an organization. On a further note, creative employees are likely to share unique and novel ideas to solve a problem in an organization, which ultimately adds more value to an organization’s success and performance [81]. Knowing the potential of employee creativity, scholarly interest in understanding employee creativity and the factors that give rise to it has been mounting recently [82,83,84].

2.6. Hypotheses

The literature on business ethics indicates that the ethical engagement of an enterprise can influence employees’ behavior [85]. Specifically, it was argued that employees’ CSR perceptions of their enterprise could drive their behavior, especially their extra-role behavior (creativity is an extra-role behavior) [86,87]. Pandey and Gupta [88] mentioned that it is the process of spiritual consciousness among employees, in response to the CSR engagement of an enterprise, that urges them to be engaged in different extra-role behavior. Essentially, an ethical enterprise gives rise to “a caring for all” culture in a workplace. Employees respond positively to such ethical commitments of an enterprise and thus provide extra support by engaging themselves in different extra-roles, including creativity [15]. Indeed, Brammer et al. [89] argued that employees’ CSR perceptions of an enterprise allow them to develop a feeling of meaningful work, which then drives their creativity. A flexible environment, a caring attitude, and a supportive organizational culture are some leading factors that influence employee creativity [90,91]. Interestingly, a socially responsible enterprise also provides its employees with all these factors. Thus, theoretically, there exists a positive relationship between CSR and employee creativity [18]. The early work of Kim et al. [92], Bibi et al. [93], and Nazir and Islam [94] can serve as some ready examples. Therefore, it can be proposed that:

Hypothesis 1 (H1):

Theoretically, the CSR perceptions of employees for their organization can be positively linked with creativity.

Generally, it is mentioned in the literature that an effective leadership style has its role in fostering employee creativity [95,96]. Among different leadership styles, it was found that inclusive leadership is at the heart of enhancing employee creativity [16,97]. Nembhard and Edmondson [66] were among the first who brought the concept of inclusive leadership into the lexicon of business management. They argued that an inclusive leader is one who encourages employees at all levels in an organization to contribute effectively by sharing their creative views with their leader. Hollander [67] also buttressed this by stating that an inclusive leader promotes a workplace environment that is characterized by an interdependent relationship between a leader and his/her followers. Not only does an inclusive leader guide employees in a workplace, but he also bears the errors or mistakes on the part of employees [17]. Theoretically, an inclusive leader can spur employees’ creative behavior in many ways. For example, he/she galvanizes employees to get engaged in creativity by encouraging them to share their views on performing a task in new ways [98]. Carmeli et al. [24] argued that inclusive leadership stimulates the intrinsic motivation of employees to be involved in creative tasks.

An enhanced motivational level urges employees to be engaged in creativity in the workplace [99]. Further, another way an inclusive leader enhances employees’ creative potential in an organization is by providing the needed resources to employees to get involved in creativity. For example, an inclusive leader provides employees with extra time to be engaged in creativity. At the same time, if employees need some information to enrich their creative idea, an inclusive leader provides help to an employee in this regard [100]. Yet another explanation for a positive link between a leader’s inclusiveness and employee creativity lies with an enhanced level of employees’ trust in their leader. In the process of learning, employees make errors and mistakes, but they believe their mistakes and errors will not be evaluated negatively by their leader. This trust provides them with added confidence to continue their creative thinking [101]. Moreover, an inclusive leader also provides relational support to employees. The work of Qi et al. [17] identifies that relational support from a leader is essential to fostering employee creativity. Moreover, the learning repository of an employee also guides him/her to observe and learn the conduct of their inclusive leader from an openness perspective. Therefore, through a process of social learning by observing their leader as a role model, the employees will fully engage themselves in creative tasks. Last but not the least, the process of social exchange between a leader and a follower also influences his/her behavior [18,102,103]. An inclusive leader not only inspires and encourages broad-mindedness in an organization, but he/she also stimulates a workplace environment of integrity, confidence, respect, teamwork, and collaboration with the followers. Moreover, an inclusive leader is one who supports employees by solving their formal concerns. Moreover, such leaders also support their employees in several contexts that are not the subject of a formal employment contract. When employees receive supporting and caring conduct from their inclusive leader, they are urged to provide extra support to their leader in the process of social exchange [18]. Accordingly, they will be involved in various extra-role behaviors, and creativity (their creative potential) could be one of them. Thus:

Hypothesis 2 (H2):

Theoretically, inclusive leadership can be positively associated with employee creativity.

In order to effectively implement different strategies and to achieve objectives, enterprises require the intervention of leadership. Put simply, an enterprise may desire to promote a CSR culture; however, it is hard to achieve such CSR-rooted culture in the absence of effective leadership [104,105]. Additionally, the role of leadership was not only highlighted as an effective policy implication in an enterprise, but it was also argued that leaders are the persons who can effectively communicate the CSR orientation of an enterprise to the employees. This implies that there is a mediation role of leadership in a CSR framework. This line of reasoning is also supported by Deng et al. [14]. A recent study by Murtaza et al. [25] mentioned the mediating effect of inclusive leadership to spur employee creativity in a CSR framework in a non-hospitality context. The above discussion can be converged by proposing:

Hypothesis 3 (H3):

Inclusive leadership mediates between CSR and employee creativity.

Poposki and Oswald [106] posited that polychronicity is an individual’s preference to do multiple things simultaneously. Polychronic employees are the persons who believe that multitasking is more suitable for them than sticking to one task [107]. Contrary to monochronic individuals, who prefer to perform a single task at a time, a polychronic individual is a person who engages him/herself in multitasking by performing a combination of activities. In an organizational context, creativity demands performing a task in different ways. We are in line with previous researchers who argued that the polychronicity of individuals could predict their creativity [27,108]. Indeed, polychronicity allows employees to manage multiple schedules simultaneously. This management of multiple schedules encourages them to investigate the newest methods to perform their job and to think creatively [109]. At the same time, polychronicity motivates employees to opt for the latest ways to perform a task instead of the traditional ways. Hence, employees’ preference for multitasking influences their creative behavior [62]. Polychronic employees prefer a strategy that determines creativity in a workplace [110]. Therefore, employees’ creative behavior relates to their inclination for multitasking (polychronicity) to perform their job tasks creatively [109,111].

The literature shows that the polychronicity of employees is influenced by different organizational drivers, including leadership [18,29,30]. Buttressing this, the work of Avolio [112] showed that an effective leader plays a critical role in enhancing employees’ polychronicity. In this regard, an inclusive leader promotes a culture of openness in which he/she welcomes his/her subordinates to share their creative ideas to do a job differently. In this vein, when employees observe that their leader prefers openness in a workplace, it boosts their willingness to engage in multiple tasks. When they engage in multiple tasks, they think differently, ultimately fostering their creative potential. A plethora of previous researchers have established a positive link between polychronicity and employee creativity [61,113,114]. In a nutshell, though the relationship between polychronicity and employee creativity is established in the literature, the consideration of an inclusive leader nevertheless provides an added explanation for this relationship. As a role model, an inclusive leader sets an environment in which he/she encourages followers to perform a task differently, which gives rise to their multitasking capability. When employees become multi-taskers as an outcome of inclusive leadership, they will fully partake in creativity. Therefore, the following hypothesis may be suggested. Please refer to Figure 1 for Hypothetical model.

Hypothesis 4 (H4):

Employees’ polychronicity can be positively linked with their creativity.

Hypothesis 5 (H5):

Employees’ polychronicity causes a positive conditional indirect effect between the mediated relationship of CSR and employee creativity such that, in the presence of polychronicity, the above mediated relationship is stronger.

3. Methods

3.1. Study Sector, Participants, and the Data Collection Procedure

The prime focus of this study was the hospitality sector of Pakistan. To represent the hospitality sector, we targeted the country’s hotel segment, which is a mix of different local, national, and international hotel chains. Serena, Avari, Marriot, and Pearl Continental are some leading international players in this sector. At the same time, Nishat, Faletti’s, and Monal are a few examples of national players in this sector. In recent years, Pakistan has emerged as a significant investment destination for the hospitality and tourism sector, especially for new hotel development. Indeed, the net value of the tourism and hotel sector was reported to be close to USD twenty billion in 2020 [32]. Considering the substantial growth in this sector in recent years, it is expected that a CAGR beyond 3% would be achieved in 2026. From an economic perspective, these trends are all positive for the country’s GDP; however, the growth trends also indicate the rising rivalries in this sector. Surviving and remaining competitive in the face of competition are matters of concern for every hotel in the country. From this perspective, boosting creativity at the level of employees is of much importance in this sector [18].

Large cities in the country such as Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi are important destinations for hotel investors. Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi are especially famous for hotel operations, as almost all leading national and international hotels operate in these cities. Moreover, these cities hold a dominant market share of the hotel business in the country [34,115]. This is why we selected these three cities as the sampled cities for data collection. In this vein, we first verified the CSR engagement of different hotels. It was realized that the upscale hotels in the country had dedicated CSR programs for the community and employees. We, in this respect, requested that different hotels support us in the data collection activity in the larger interest of academia and the hotel segment. The management of some hotels responded positively by allowing us to collect the data from their employees in order to proceed further in our research study. After settling different issues related to data collection (especially timings and schedules), we eventually were able to maintain direct contact with hotel employees in these cities. Further, six hotels were included in this study to carry out the data collection activity. The data were collected in multi-waves (three waves). To address the issue of common method bias (CMB), the data were collected from different sources (employees and supervisors). Specifically, the supervisors were asked to rate the creative behavior of an employee, whereas employees were asked to rate the inclusiveness of their leaders, their own CSR perceptions, and their polychronicity.

We, prior to finalizing the data collection instrument (an adapted questionnaire) [15,18,31], requested that field experts (professors and industry experts) comment on the suitability and appropriateness of our instrument [116,117]. After obtaining these expert opinions, the finalized version of the instrument was presented to the employees who were the respondents of this study. The data were collected between March and May 2021. The major ethical protocols given in the Helsinki Declaration were observed in this study [118,119]. Eventually, a final response rate of 61% (n = 427) was received after identifying the outliers and conducting data cleaning. For more details, we refer to

Table 1. Data cleaning, outliers, and response rate.

	Distributed	Returned	Unreturned	Unusuable	Outliers	Total Useable
	600	458	142	11	14	427
Percentage	-	76.33	23.67	5.46		93.23

. Concerning the socio-demographic data, almost 63% of the informants were males. The ages of most of the respondents were between 22–40 years. Almost 32% of the employees were identified as leaders, and 76% of employees had 1–7 years of experience.

3.2. Measures

The four variables of this study were measured by adapting items from different sources [31]. In this respect, Turker’s [120] CSR scale is one of the most cited scales to measure the CSR perceptions of employees and customers. Originally, this scale consisted of seventeen items; however, considering the focus of this study and the suggestions of the field experts, we used only twelve items in this study. Among these, six items regard the general CSR perceptions (for example, “This hotel makes investments for creating a better life for future generations”), and the other six were related to employee-oriented CSR (for example, “This hotel’s policies inspire the employees to improve their competences and careers”). The Cronbach alpha value (α) for this scale was 0.927. The items of inclusive leadership (IL) were adapted from Carmeli et al. [24]. A total of nine items were included in this scale to measure the employees’ perception of their immediate leader (for example, “My manager is open to discuss the desired targets and new manners to accomplish them”). The α value, in this case, was 0.908. Employee creativity (EC) was measured through the five items of Coelho and Augusto [121]. These items were related to the perceptions of a leader/manager about an employee’s creative behavior (for example, “This person experiments with new approaches to performing his job”). A significant α-value (0.865) was observed in this case. Finally, the variable of polychronicity was measured by using the five-items scale of Lindquist and Kaufman-Scarborough [122] (for example, “I prefer to do two or more activities at the same time”). The α-value for employees’ polychornicity was 0.862. All responses were collected on a five-point Likert scale. Appendix A includes the list of full items used in this survey.

3.3. Non-Response Bias and Common Latent Factor Test

To validate a non-response bias issue, we compared the respondents who provided full information with the respondents who did not fill all parts of the questionnaire. In this respect, a significant difference between the two groups was non-existent, implying that non-response bias was not a subject of critical importance. Further, though a multi-source data collection strategy was considered in this study, we tested if some dominant factor existed in the dataset of this study. To do so, we employed a common latent factor (CLF) test in AMOS by developing a measurement model with a common factor. This CLF model was compared with the baseline measurement model (the original model of this study). It was noted that no significant difference between the item loadings of the two models (λ > 0.2) was exited. This evidence was against the existence of a single dominant factor. This implies that a CLF has not existed in this study.

4. Data Analysis

4.1. Establishment of Validity and Reliability through Variable Evaluation

In the data analysis phase, we first evaluated our variables (CSR, IL, EC, and PL) to validate the reliability and validity in different cases. In this respect, we started this evaluation process by observing the standardized factor loadings of each item. To carry out this process, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in AMOS software was performed. The outputs of the CFA are presented in

Table 2. Construct evaluation.

	Λ	λ2	S.E	T. Values	E-Variance	AVE	CR
CSR						0.567	0.940
	0.763	0.582	0.057	13.39	0.418
	0.711	0.506	0.062	11.47	0.494
	0.716	0.513	0.061	11.74	0.487
	0.772	0.596	0.055	14.04	0.404
	0.701	0.491	0.064	10.95	0.509
	0.756	0.572	0.058	13.03	0.428
	0.728	0.530	0.056	13.00	0.470
	0.812	0.659	0.051	15.92	0.341
	0.794	0.630	0.053	14.98	0.370
	0.744	0.554	0.054	13.78	0.446
	0.808	0.653	0.051	15.84	0.347
	0.718	0.516	0.060	11.97	0.484
IL						0.581	0.925
	0.729	0.531	0.059	12.36	0.469
	0.771	0.594	0.055	14.02	0.406
	0.713	0.508	0.062	11.50	0.492
	0.716	0.513	0.061	11.74	0.487
	0.816	0.666	0.052	15.69	0.334
	0.821	0.674	0.048	17.10	0.326
	0.805	0.648	0.051	15.78	0.352
	0.710	0.504	0.062	11.45	0.496
	0.766	0.587	0.057	13.44	0.413
EC						0.586	0.876
	0.783	0.613	0.054	14.50	0.387
	0.819	0.671	0.048	17.06	0.329
	0.803	0.645	0.051	15.75	0.355
	0.709	0.503	0.062	11.44	0.497
	0.705	0.497	0.063	11.19	0.503
PL						0.600	0.881
	0.737	0.543	0.055	13.40	0.46
	0.733	0.537	0.055	13.33	0.46
	0.786	0.618	0.054	14.56	0.38
	0.740	0.548	0.053	13.96	0.45
	0.859	0.738	0.042	20.45	0.26

Notes: λ = Item loadings, CR = composite reliability, ∑λ² = sum of the square of item loadings, E-Variance = error variance.

. Generally, an item’s factor loading (λ) above 0.5 and, ideally, above 0.7 is assumed to be significant. To this end, the CFA results of the four-factor measurement model (CSR = 12; IL = 9; EC = 5; PL = 5) indicated that the λ values of all items were significant, implying that all items of a variable not only converged well but also showed a significant λ value. These significant λ values were then used in further analysis—for example, in the validity and reliability analysis. In this vein, the convergent validity (CnV) was evaluated by calculating the average-variance-extracted value (AVE) of each variable. It was observed that the AVEs of all four variables were greater than 0.5 (A.V.Es = 0.567, 0.581, 0.586, and 0.600 for CSR, IL, EC, and PL, respectively). These results indicated that the CnV was significant in each case. Similarly, the composite reliability (CR) of each variable was also evaluated through standardized factor loadings. In this case, it was noticed that the CRs for all variables were beyond 0.7, indicating that CR was significant in each case (CRs = 0.940, 0.925, 0.876, and 0.881 for CSR, IL, EC, and PL, respectively). Thus, the initial results of the variable evaluation indicated that there is no critical issue in the dataset of this study, as all variables achieved significant validity and reliability values.

4.2. Correlations

In this stage of the data analysis, we assessed the correlation (r) values of our variables (CSR, IL, EC, and PL). The r values between different pairs of variables can be seen in

Table 3. Correlations and discriminant validity.

Construct	CSR	IL	EC	PL	Mean	SD
CSR	0.753	0.377 **	0.428 **	0.292 **	2.94	0.77
IL		0.762	0.398 **	0.368 **	3.08	0.69
EC			0.765	0.359 **	3.12	0.68
PL				0.772	2.97	0.77

Notes: S.D = standard deviation, ** = significant values of correlation, bold diagonal = discriminant validity values.

. For this aspect, it was realized that a positive and moderate correlation occurred in different cases. Explicitly, the r values ranged between 0.292 ** (CSR⇔PL; p < 0.01) and 0.428 ** (CSR⇔EC; p < 0.01). These significant r values indicated that correlation was significant among all pairs of variables. These results provided initial support to the statistical validity of the different hypotheses in this study. In this vein, the discriminant validity (DsV) was also assessed. To achieve this, we first took the square root of each AVE (sqAVE). These sqAVE values of each variable were compared with the r values (for more detail, see Table 3). It was observed that the DsV was significant in each case because the value of the sqAVE of a variable was beyond the r values. To further explain this, the sqAVE for CSR was 0.752, which was superior than the r values (CSR⇔IL = 0.377; CSR⇔EC = 0.428; and CSR⇔PL = 0.292). This implies that the DsV was significant for CSR.

Lastly, we developed a series of alternate measurement models which were compared with the original baseline model (Model-1 in

Table 4. Model fit comparison, alternate vs. hypothesized models.

Model	χ2/df	Δχ2/df	NFI	CFI	RMSEA
Model-1 (hypothesized)	2.174	_	0.919	0.924	0.045
Model-2 (3-factor) CSR + IL, EC, PL	3.188	1.014	0.813	0.814	0.056
Model-3 (2-factor) CSR + IL, EC + PL	4.496	1.308	0.729	0.742	0.063
Model-4 (1-factor) CSR + IL + EC + PC	5.782	1.286	0.549	0.574	0.087

). This step was carried out to see if the baseline model of this study (originally hypothesized) could fit the data well compared to baseline models. For this assessment purpose, we considered different model fit indices—for example, NFI, CFI, RMSEA, chi-square (χ²), etc. The results indicated that the hypothesized model (Model-1) produced superior results, and a one-factor model (Model-4) was insignificant. This indicates that Model-1 was the one that presented a better fit between the theory and the data. Figure 2 presents the measurement model of this study.

4.3. Total, Direct, Indirect Effects and Hypotheses

In order to validate the hypothesized relationships, we considered structural equation modeling (SEM). We developed a three-stage structural model in AMOS to analyze the structural relations [33,123,124]. In the first stage, we developed a direct effect structural model in which no mediating and moderating variables were identified. The results of the structural model (direct effect model) indicated that CSR, IL, and PL were able to significantly explain the variation in EC. Specifically, it was observed that the beta values (β), t-values, and p values were significant (β = 0.423, 0.273, 0.378, 0.396, 0.355; t-values >2; p values <0.05). In the light of these results, we were able to evaluate H1 (CSR→EC = 0.423, t = 8.633, p < 0.05), H2 (IL→EC = 0.396, t = 7.765, p < 0.05), and H4 (PL→EC = 0.355, t = 6.228, p < 0.05). In this vein, based on the statistical evidence, it was confirmed that H1, H2, and H4 were accepted.

In the second stage, a structural model was again developed by including IL as a mediator in the model. Further, to decide whether the mediation effect was significant or not, we used the bootstrapping option of AMOS. A larger bootstrapping sample option of 2000 was enabled in AMOS to test the bootstrapping effect. The results supported the theoretical statement of H3. Further, it was realized that IL partially mediates between CSR and EC (β = 0.150, z = 2.884, CI = 0.202–0.299). Hence, the mediation effect of IL on the relationship between CSR and EC was confirmed.

In the third stage, we tested the conditional indirect effect of PL between the mediated relationship of CSR and EC through IL. The same previous steps of the second stage were followed. However, the interaction (IL × PL) effect was tested this time through the structural model. This was done to analyze if the theoretical statement of H5 was statistically significant or not. In this respect, it was observed that, after including the interaction term (IL × PL) in the model, the mediated relationship became stronger compared to the previous case (β increased from 0.15 to 0.279, with significant p values). These results supported the statement of H5; therefore, the conditional indirect role of PL was confirmed. For more details, we refer the readers to

Table 5. Total, direct, indirect, and conditional effects.

Hypotheses	Relationship	Estimates (SE)	t/z	p-Value	CI
Total effect (CSR→EC)	positive	0.423 ** (0.049)	8.633	***	0.511–0.638
Direct effects
(CSR→EC)	Positive	0.273 ** (0.068)	4.015	***	0.298–0.431
(CSR→IL)	Positive	0.378 ** (0.055)	6.873	***	0.342–0.463
(IL→EC)	Positive	0.396 ** (0.051)	7.765	***	0.296–0.459
(PL→EC)	positive	0.355 ** (0.057)	6.228	***	0.327–0.652
Indirect effect
(CSR→IL→EC)	positive	0.150 ** (0.052)	2.884	***	0.202–0.299
Conditional indirect effect (CSR→IL→EC)	positive	0.279 ** (0.059)	4.729	***	0.223–0.311

Notes: CI = 95% confidence interval with lower and upper limits, **, *** = significant values.

. Figure 3 represents the structural model of this study.

5. Discussion

We carried out this work to discuss employee creativity as an outcome of CSR, inclusive leadership, and polychronicity in the hospitality sector of Pakistan. In this vein, the statistical evidence supported our theoretical assumptions that a socially responsible enterprise directly influences employee creativity and that the presence of an inclusive leader better explains this relationship. Specifically, these results advanced the discussion on employee creativity in the hotel sector context of Pakistan. To elucidate this further, when employees observe that their leader is a promoter of inclusiveness, their social learning process encourages them to be engaged in different creative tasks. More specifically, we would like to mention here that, in line with SET, a social exchange also occurs between enterprises and employees. That is, a socially responsible enterprise and inclusive leadership build a supportive and collaborative relationship with employees. As the receiver of this support, the employees are urged to respond positively. Thus, they exchange the CSR benefits received from their enterprise with the benefits of showing a greater commitment to creativity. At the same time, an inclusive leader pays extra attention to fostering subordinates’ perceptions of belongingness and their value for uniqueness, which are critical factors in shaping employees’ creative behavior [20,125]. Similarly, by referring to SL theory, the placement of a leader as a role model also helps employees, through a social learning process, to be engaged in creative tasks. In other words, when employees observe that their leader, as a role model, prefers openness and uniqueness, they not only observe this act of their leader but also copy such act on their part. Thus, they get engaged in creativity. The prior work also confirmed a positive link between CSR and employee creativity [15,126]. Similarly, our argument that an inclusive leader predicts employee creativity positively is also endorsed by several other researchers [24,127,128].

Our research study also highlights the important mediating role of an inclusive leader in fostering employee creativity. From the perspective of employee creativity, the engagement in creative behavior demands the experience of new things, for which the existence of an inclusive manager in a workplace is essential. There is a possibility that, while experiencing new things, employees may face failure. This fear of failure reduces their creative potential; nevertheless, the perception of working in a psychologically safe environment under the leadership of an inclusive leader creates confidence among employees that their failure will not be evaluated negatively. Such confidence boosts their willingness to take risks without the restraints generated by the fear of missteps, which ultimately drives creativity. Thus, an inclusive leader has a distinct task in guiding the creative behavior of employees in a CSR framework. This viewpoint is also endorsed by previous researchers [129]. However, our research advances the field by highlighting the mediating role of inclusive leaders in enhancing creativity in the hospitality context, which was not highlighted previously.

Another important point that our research highlighted is the conditional indirect role of polychronicity between CSR and the employee creativity relationship. Polychronicity is one’s preference for multitasking; however, this multitasking approach of employees requires reasonable organizational support for effective implementation, for which the inclusiveness on the part of the leadership of a socially responsible enterprise is necessary. Put simply, in the absence of enterprise support, polychronicity, as an individual factor, cannot lead employees to work proactively by performing several tasks simultaneously. They need support from the end of their organization to foster their potential for polychronicity. In this aspect, leadership, as an organizational factor, can foster the polychronicity of employees in a CSR framework. Specifically, a leader with inclusiveness urges employees to do things in more than one way, which fosters employees’ polychronicity and ultimately influences their creative behavior. The early work in the domain of polychronicity acknowledges its central role in fostering employee creativity [26,61]. Even the recent work of Waheed et al. [27] highlighted the direct role of polychronicity in a healthcare context; however, its mediating potential in a leadership framework, especially from the perspective of an inclusive leader, has not been discussed.

5.1. Theoretical Implications

From a theoretical view, this study advances the literature by offering the following implications. Firstly, unlike the majority of the previous studies, this study is among the few which considered both organizational and personal factors in explaining employee behavior, especially their creative behavior. Specifically, this study advances the work of Murtaza et al. [25], who acknowledged the mediating role of inclusive leadership in a CSR framework but surprisingly did not consider any personal factors in their theoretical model. Another recent study by Oh et al. [130] highlighted the roles of CSR and personal factors in boosting employee creativity; still, they missed the important role of a leader in fostering employee creativity. Secondly, this study advances the field of creativity, especially in a hospitality context, from an individual perspective. In this vein, most of the prior research under the domain of innovation was carried out at the organizational level [35,36]. Despite the mounting importance of innovation as an outcome of individual creativity, the hospitality sector remains an understudied area. Lastly, as specified earlier, a number of prior studies on the CSR–employee creativity relationship were carried out in a developed country context. Considering the context and the culturally specific nature of CSR, it was important to advance the debate on employee creativity in a CSR framework from the perspective of a developing country.

5.2. Implications for Practice

Practically, this study tends to help hotel management by indicating that well-designed CSR activities of a hotel not only improve its image as an ethical enterprise, but such CSR activities can motivate the workforce to be creative. Considering the isomorphism of service delivery patterns and the physical outlay in this sector, creative employees contribute to enhancing competitiveness due to the idiosyncratic character of this kind of innovation. Similarly, this study also highlights the role of hotel managers as leaders in explaining the relationship between CSR and employee creativity. In this respect, if a manager of a socially responsible hotel is inclusive, he/she can significantly promote creativity among the followers (the employees). Observing the inclusiveness of their leader, employees build perceptions of a workplace where their new ideas will be listened to by the management. At the same time, employees, in the presence of an inclusive leader, believe that if they fail in the process of performing a task uniquely, they will not be evaluated negatively by their leader. Likewise, this study also highlights the importance of employees’ polychronicity for creativity. Considering the dynamic environment of the hotel sector, employees with multitasking attitudes can be well positioned in this sector. However, such multi-taskers require support from their enterprise to keep their multitasking attitude alive. In this respect, CSR orientation and a supportive leadership style may be a way forward for employees to be polychromic, which can encourage creativity.

5.3. Limitations and Future Research Guidelines

Despite the fact that this study adds significantly to the theory and practice, there are a few limitations that we mention here with suggestions. The main limitation of this study is the sampling process, as we were using non-probability sampling method, which is certainly weaker than a probability sampling method. Various active hotel policies and security measures have restricted our access to any sampling frame in certain hotels. However, we intend to overcome this limitation in future studies and articles on this subject by using a probability sampling technique. A second limitation of this study is the geographical limitation. Its main focus is on the three major cities in Pakistan. Although the reasoning is obvious, i.e., the high market share that the three cities analyzed cumulatively have, in further research, we intend to include in the analysis several additional cities. Another limitation of this study is that this study is based on perceptual CSR measures to stimulate employee creativity. We believe that, although much of the literature on this topic supports the predominance of perceptual measurements, an objective measure should be proposed and used in future studies on this topic. Additionally, due to the specific design of data that we employed and the weak causality, for future studies, we intend to use longitudinal data. Lastly, this research did not explore the proposed relationship between any groups, genders, or ages, which may be worth investigating. Therefore, in future studies, we recommend incorporating this point.

6. Conclusions

The hospitality sector, especially the hotel business, is at a crossroads. Dynamic business environments, rivalries, and isomorphisms in service operations are significant challenges for hotels. Fostering employee creativity is undoubtedly an option that can provide a hotel with a stable competitive foundation. In this vein, the management of a hotel is encouraged to reconsider its CSR approach from the perspective of employee creativity. Currently, most hotels operate under a philanthropic aspect of CSR; however, a careful reconsideration and a well-planned execution may provide a hotel with a dual advantage. For example, on one end, CSR can improve the image of a hotel to be recognized as socially responsible, and it can promote creativity among employees on the other end. Further, our research also highlights the role of an inclusive leader in enhancing employee creativity through a leader–member exchange relationship process. Specifically, this exchange of relationships not only focuses on the characteristics of a leader but on the characteristics of employees and organizational contexts. This is important because it examines leadership as more than just the characteristics of the leader and what he/she brings to the situation. In fact, it is really a combination of the employees, the leader, and the organizational context (CSR in the current case) that defines the ultimate relationship between a corporate leader and an employee. Management is encouraged to have a special focus on promoting inclusiveness among their managers/leaders. For this, we suggest designing different training and development programs at the managerial levels, with a special focus on inclusiveness. A socially responsible hotel enterprise, with the help of inclusive leadership, is well positioned to foster the creative behavior of its employees. Lastly, we suggest that management consider the personality traits, such as the polychronic orientation, of an employee at the time of recruitment and selection. Polychronic employees are expected to complete several tasks simultaneously. At the same time, employees with a polychronic orientation are expected to complete a specific job in different ways, implying not only that their multitasking aptitude motivates them to be engaged in different tasks simultaneously but that their multitasking orientation urges them to complete a task in different ways. Employees with a polychronic orientation can demonstrate a better commitment to being engaged in creative tasks compared to monochronic employees.