Where fun meets success: the impact of ebullient supervision on project success through employee creativity

PurposeThe relationship between ebullient supervision and project success remains a nascent area of inquiry in project management literature. Leveraging the Conservation of Resources theory, this study aims to investigate the potential mediating role of employee creativity in the link between ebullient supervision and project success within the IT industry.Design/methodology/approachAt the dyad level of analysis, data from 48 project teams (48 project supervisors and 232 project team members – 280 employees in total) from the IT industry was collected using a structured questionnaire. PLS-SEM was considered by employing SmartPLS4 for data analysis.FindingsThe findings demonstrates that ebullient supervision contributes to project success through employee creativity. Contrary to expectations, thriving at work had a negative moderating effect, indicating that the benefits of ebullient supervision on employee creativity may be diminished when employees are thriving at work.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical insights for IT project managers to drive project success by fostering ebullient supervision and prioritizing employee creativity, ultimately informing resource allocation decisions.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new outlook on the role of ebullient supervision in the success of a project, by starting to investigate the role of employee creativity as a mediating variable in this process.