How self-verification striving affects creative performance: the moderating effect of authentic leadership and the mediating effect of taking charge

Purpose The extant literature on self-verification striving has primarily focused on employee recruitment and positive organizational outcomes, but there is insufficient research on its influence mechanism and boundary conditions. With taking charge as the mediating variable and authentic leadership as the moderating variable, this study aims to explore the relationship between self-verification striving and creative performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 358 questionnaires from China. Linear regression was used to explore the influence mechanism and boundary conditions. Groups were classified by latent profile analysis, and differences among different groups were compared. Findings First, self-verification striving was significantly positively correlated with creative performance, and taking charge played a significant mediating role between them. Second, authentic leadership significantly positively moderated the relationship between self-verification striving and taking charge. Third, based on the willingness and action of self-verification striving, it was found that the taking charge and creative performance of the double high group was significantly higher than the high-medium group, while the double low group was significantly lower than the high-medium group. Originality/value First, this study makes up for the lack of influencing mechanism and inconsistency of research results between self-verification striving and employee outcomes. Second, the moderating effect of authentic leadership was proposed and verified, which enriched the universality of self-verification theory in Chinese context. Third, we found the differences in behaviors and outcomes among different groups, verified the uniqueness of self-verification striving in the Chinese context. It helps to explore the deep relationships that cannot be revealed by variables alone.