The role of thriving at work and overall fairness in the future work self–employee creativity relationship

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze why and when the future work self affects employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 171 supervisor–employee dyads in four Chinese enterprises. Findings: The results indicate that the future work self has a positive effect on employee creativity. Further, thriving at work mediates the links between the future work self and employee creativity. The authors also theorize that overall fairness moderates the positive effects of the future work self on thriving at work and employee creativity. Originality/value: The study supports the self-determination perspective regarding the future work self and strengthens the application of this perspective in an effort to understand the relationship between the future work self and employee creativity.