FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE CREATIVE BEHAVIOR AT WORKPLACE IN KUWAIT; TESTING MEDIATION BY EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

The main objective of the current study are to analyze the impact of incentives, training, employee relations, empowerment and leadership factors on ECB at workplace in Kuwait, to assess the mediating effect of EE on ECB at workplace in Kuwait and finally to evaluate the difference in ECB on the basis of age, gender, level of academic qualification, income, marital status, overall experience, level of employment, and experience at current position of employees at workplace in Kuwait. A sample was selected using the formula, n= [{p (1-p) z2} / E2].  Data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS version 21 software. The results of the t-test as t (332) =-.787, p>0.05 shows that male and female respondents have no significant differences in their perception towards ECB at workplace in Kuwait. The results of ANOVA test that ECB shows no significant difference based upon different ages (F (3,330) =.229, p = .876). The F and p-value for variables education, marital status, income, overall experience, level of employment and experience at current position has results as (F (4,329) = 2.539, p = .040), (F (3,330) = .491, p = .689), (F (3,330) =2.189, p = .089).  (F (3,330) = 1.757, p = .155), (F (2,331) = 3.415, p = .034) and (F (3,330) = 1.043, p = .374) respectively. The results imply that there is no significant difference exists among different groups of age, marital status, income, overall experience and experience at current position towards the ECB’s at workplace in Kuwait. However, there exists a difference in groups of education and level of employment towards ECB at workplace in Kuwait. The researcher also examines the relationship between EE and ECB. A relatively stronger correlation is observed between employee engagement and employee creative behavior (r=.714, p<0.05). The result of Sobel’s test indicates that for both relationships employee engagement was found to be significantly mediating the impact of incentives, employee relation, training, leadership, and employee empowerment on employee creative behavior. The findings of the current research are useful for organizations to formulate human resource policies and providing insights about how the studied factors can be used by organizations to make employees more engaged towards their work so that they will become more creative in context of Kuwait