a systemic perspective on visionary leadership and employee creativity: the roles of knowledge donating and organizational inertia

This study examines how visionary leadership relates to employee creativity by investigating the mediating role of organizational inertia and the moderating role of knowledge-donating behavior within an integrated organizational framework. prior research has often examined these constructs separately; however, limited empirical evidence has tested their combined mediation–moderation structure in knowledge-based firms. using survey data from 118 managers in knowledge-based companies located in mashhad's science and technology park, the proposed model was analyzed using pls-sem. the findings indicate that visionary leadership is negatively associated with organizational inertia and positively associated with employee creativity, whereas organizational inertia is negatively associated with creativity. knowledge-donating behavior strengthens the relationships between leadership and inertia and between inertia and creativity, reinforcing the indirect association between leadership and creative outcomes. by examining these interrelated constructs within a single empirical model, the study provides a more integrated understanding of how leadership behaviors and knowledge processes are linked to creativity in organizational settings. the systemic perspective adopted in this study is conceptual and considers multiple interdependent organizational factors simultaneously, rather than a dynamic system modeling approach.