The Impact of Leaders' Social Intelligence on Organizational Creativity in Thailand's Pharmaceutical Industry

The Mediating Roles of Organizational Ambidexterity, Employee Work Engagement, and Employee Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

Leadership plays a critical role in shaping organizational outcomes, particularly organizational creativity. Drawing on Behavioral Integration Theory, this study examines how leaders' social intelligence is associated with employees' perceptions of organizational creativity through three distinct mechanisms: perceived organizational ambidexterity (structural pathway), employee work engagement (motivational pathway), and employee emotional intelligence (psychological pathway). Data were collected from 320 employees employed at different managerial levels in pharmaceutical companies in Thailand using a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that leaders' social intelligence is positively associated with organizational creativity (β = 0.179, p < 0.05). Furthermore, employee work engagement and employee emotional intelligence significantly mediate this association, whereas organizational ambidexterity does not demonstrate a significant mediating role. The findings suggest that employee-level psychological and motivational mechanisms may be more important than perceived structural capabilities in explaining organizational creativity within the Thai pharmaceutical industry. This study contributes to the literature by simultaneously examining structural, motivational, and psychological mediating pathways within a unified framework and provides practical implications for organizations seeking to foster creativity through socially intelligent leadership.