The effect of employee motivation, self-esteem and creativity on suggestion systems practices in Iranian automotive industry

Abstract

The role of suggestion systems is important in promoting innovation and profitability in organizations. Suggestion systems are administrative tools that increase participation and offer opportunities to employees and customers to present their comments. There is lack of empirical studies investigating the effect of employee motivation and self-esteem on Suggestion Systems Practices (SSP) via creativity especially in the context of developing countries. The main objective of this study is to identify the effect of creativity as a mediator on the relationship between employee motivation and SSP in Iranian's automotive company namely Saipa Company. The second objective is to identify mediator role of creativity on the relationship between self-esteem and SSP in Saipa Company. Data were gathered using questionnaires and the variables being measured were employee motivation, self-esteem, SSP and creativity. Stratified random sampling technique was used to ensure that all affected departments provide adequate number of samples to represent production employees of Saipa Company. A total of 395 employees were selected from production section as the respondents for this study. The data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results of the study revealed that there is an influence of employee motivation and self-esteem on SSP in Iranian automotive company. The findings of the study indicated that creativity plays a significant role as a mediator on the relationship between employee motivation and SSP. In addition, the study showed that creativity plays a significant role as a mediator on the relationship between self-esteem and SSP. Finally, the study provides several theoretical and practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.