The research aims to understand the influence of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) differentiation on the creativity of a team and how different relationships between leaders and their members might affect the outcome of the innovative work in a team. The research also uses a mixed-methodology design, which integrates survey analysis through quantitative research, qualitative interviews and an experimental design to give a holistic view of the association. Results indicate that LMX differentiation has a positive influence on team creativity and high degree of differentiation is associated with high creative performance especially in highly coherent teams and those teams whose tasks are interdependent. Qualitative findings also explain that employees within the team feel motivated and appreciated when leaders adjust their interactions which boosts creative thinking. The experiment design ensured that the interdependence of tasks enhances the creative advantages of differentiated LMX. The research is important in the leadership literature because it describes how a combination of personalized leader member relationships and contextual elements produces creativity within a team. Further investigation may be carried out in the future to add to these results to incorporate other moderating variables in different organizational settings
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