The Role of Knowledge Management and Motivation in Employee Creativity at the General Directorate of Road Maintenance and Transportation of Guilan Province
Keywords:
Creativity, motivation management, knowledge management, explicit knowledge, tacit knowledgeAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of knowledge management and motivation management and their dimensions on employee creativity at the General Directorate of Road Maintenance and Transportation of Guilan Province.
Methodology: This applied study employed a descriptive-survey design. The statistical population consisted of 700 employees of the General Directorate of Road Maintenance and Transportation of Guilan Province, from whom 248 participants were selected through simple random sampling based on the Morgan sampling table. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires assessing employee creativity, knowledge management comprising explicit and tacit knowledge, and motivation management comprising intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. After establishing content, convergent, and discriminant validity and evaluating instrument reliability, the conceptual model and research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS.
Findings: Inferential analyses showed that motivation management had a significant positive effect on employee creativity (β=0.13, t=2.45). Intrinsic motivation (β=0.06, t=2.60) and extrinsic motivation (β=0.10, t=2.48) also exerted significant positive effects on creativity, with extrinsic motivation demonstrating the stronger effect. Knowledge management significantly affected creativity; however, the overall effect was negative (β=-0.42, t=8.75). Regarding its dimensions, tacit knowledge had a significant positive effect on creativity (β=0.12, t=2.08), whereas explicit knowledge had a significant negative effect (β=-0.41, t=7.13). Overall, knowledge management exerted a stronger effect on employee creativity than motivation management, although this stronger effect was predominantly negative and attributable to explicit knowledge.
Conclusion: Employee creativity appears to depend on both motivational mechanisms and the manner in which organizational knowledge is managed. Promoting tacit knowledge exchange and strengthening both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may facilitate creativity, whereas excessive reliance on explicit knowledge, standardized procedures, and routine work processes may constrain creative behavior. Accordingly, managers, particularly in public organizations, should balance formal knowledge-management requirements with greater flexibility, experiential knowledge sharing, and effective motivational practices to create an organizational environment conducive to employee creativity.
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