Crafting Creativity and Its Impact on the Trajectory of Career Withdrawal Intentions of Hospitality Employees: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach

Abstract

This study examines the role of supervisor support in fostering employees' incremental and radical creativity, with employee ambition as a moderating factor. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, it further investigates how these forms of creativity influence changes in the career withdrawal intentions of hospitality employees over time. Utilizing three-wave longitudinal data from a dyadic sample of 204 hospitality workers and their supervisors, results indicate that supervisor support significantly enhances both incremental and radical creativity, with ambition amplifying this effect. Based on three-level latent growth modeling, the findings also reveal that incremental creativity reduces initial withdrawal intentions and slows their progression over time, while radical creativity initially decreases withdrawal intentions but lacks sustained impact. These findings highlight the crucial role of supervisor support and employee ambition in fostering creativity and positively influencing employees’ career engagement over time.