PCMT

Perceived Organizational Support (POS) plays a crucial role in fostering employee creativity in higher education by creating an environment where employees feel valued, trusted, and supported. Traditional models of organizational support, grounded in conventional social exchange theories, often fail to fully address the complex and multidimensional needs of modern organizations. This study introduces a framework that identifies four distinct forms of POS—Teleological, Personalized, Collectivistic, and Monistic—to examine their impact on employee creativity. By exploring these dimensions, the research investigates how they directly influence creativity and the mediating role of POS as a higher-order construct in fostering creativity through intrinsic motivation. Data were collected from 370 academic staff at Sudanese public universities, and Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling using SmartPLS4 was applied to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed significantly positive direct effects of Personalized and Collectivistic organizational support on employee creativity. Moreover, the analysis of mediating effects showed that POS indirectly enhances creativity by influencing intrinsic motivation. However, no significant direct effects were observed for Teleological and Monistic support on creativity. These insights are essential for university managers, particularly in developing countries, who aim to cultivate creativity within their institutions. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of educational access and inclusive education as integral factors in promoting creativity, suggesting that fostering an inclusive environment where diverse ideas are valued can further amplify the impact of POS on creativity in higher education settings.