Linking person–organization adhocracy value congruence to creativity

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of person–organization (P-O) adhocracy value congruence on employee creativity using the supplementary fit theory while investigating the moderating effect of the immediate supervisor's transformational leadership. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses polynomial regression to analyze 431 employees from 47 Chinese companies. Findings: Higher levels of creativity were observed in employees whose adhocracy value was congruent with that of the organization. Practical implications: The practice of hiring employees with creative value or building creative culture may not trigger employee creativity if managers do not take value congruence into consideration. Originality/value: This study introduces a new perspective on understanding creativity in the workplace. First, it contributes to work on the consequences of P-O value congruency by exploring how supplementary fit influences employee creativity. Second, it contributes to creativity research by proposing a P-O supplementary fit argument to explain the actor-context interactionist model of creativity.