Summary of Doctoral thesis: The relationship empowering leadership, intrinsic motivation and creativity: Research in Generation companies of Vietnamese

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1
INTRODUCTION

management may have errors due to the exaggeration of viewpoint
because the survey was conducted one way;

1. Reason for the topic selection

Thirdly, the new study can analyzes only the difference of each

In terms of theory, intrinsic motivation is considered as a

research factor among different target groups but has not considered

predictor for creativity (Amabile, 1996). However, the review of

the difference of the overall model with target groups.

researches over the past 30 years shows inconsistent results and the

Finally, like most other studies on this topic, the research was

changing relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity. A

conducted in one sector and needs to be further expanded to establish

number of recent research directions have been conducted to explain

the generality of the proposed findings.

this problem, typically by the studies of Grantt and Berry (2011),
Leung et al (2014), and Logan and Tristan (2017). However, there

CONCLUSION

are not many direct studies but the relationship is placed in a series of

The thesis was conducted to study the motivation to creativity in

various factors, which can lead to discrepancy and unconvincing

the viewpoint of organizational behavior, specifically: (i) in-depth

arguments while interpreting the inconsistent results of this

study on the nature of intrinsic motivation in challenge and

relationship.

enjoyment dimensions as well as consider the relationship of each

In order to study more about the relationship between intrinsic

dimension with creativity; (ii) at the same time study the moderator

motivation and creativity, it is necessary to consider the impact of

role of the empowering leadership in these relationships. Basing on

contextual factors on this relationship, particularly the issues related

this, the thesis explains the inconsistent results and the changing

to leadership due to continuous and long-term influence on the

relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity, and suggests

context as well as creative objects. In fact, many studies have been

synchronous and focused solutions to nurture motivation and further

conducted to examine the influence of leadership on employee

promote the employees’ creativity in the context of electricity

performance. However, most of the studies focus on issues such as

generation enterprises in Vietnam, so as to improve operational

leadership support or leadership styles in general, meanwhile not

efficiency, flexibly meet the development roadmap of electricity

many researches have mentioned leadership styles as a foundation to

market as well as to develop stronger for international integration.

encourage creativity. This shows the potential role as a regulator of
empowering leadership in relation between challenge and enjoyment

dimensions and creativity while there is a shortage of empirical
evidences for the hypothesis of these relationships.
The production of electricity as well as enterprises in the field of
electricity generation are the key component in the chain of

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Geneation - Transmission - Distribution and Trading of electricity,

5.3 Recommendations to promote motivation for creativity

especially when electricity generation accounts for the largest

Firstly, review and redesign Job Descriptions focusing on the

proportion of electricity production cost. Moreover, the pressure of

outcome requirements which are more challenging to nurture

the competitive electricity market has forced power generation

motivation, while considering the scope, powers and responsibilities to

enterprises to innovate and restructure to achieve better efficiency.

appropriately empower so as to make employees be more proactive

Thus, to meet the urgent needs of restructuring to improve

and creative in their work;

operational efficiency in the current period as well as to flexibly

Secondly, empower employees by: promoting the sense of

respond to changes and roadmap for the development of Vietnam's

meaningful work; facilitating employees to take part in decision

Electricity Market, with the key role in the power generation value

making; showing confidence in high performance and giving

chain, power generation enterprises must constantly innovate and

autonomy to eliminate complicated procedures;

maximize their autonomy and dynamic in production and business,

Thirdly, insert leaders’ empowerment issues into competence

especially to encourage employees passion, dedication and creativity

framework and capacity dictionary of enterprises, in which developing

because creativity is the most important factor creating innovation in

clear criteria are built to assess leaders’ ability of empowerment. After

the organization and vice versa (Amabile, 1988).

that, raise awareness of and provide training to improve empowering

From the above-mentioned theoretical and practical needs, the

leadership skills to leaders at all levels of the enterprise;

thesis shall focus on studying The relationship of empowering

Fourthly, it is necessary to pay attention and promply develop

leadership, intrinsic motivation and creativity: Research in
Generation companies of Vietnam.
2. Aims of research
Firstly, to study the nature of intrinsic motivation in terms of 02
dimensions including challenge and enjoyment;
Secondly, to study the impact and extent of influence of challenge
and enjoyment dimensions on creativity;
Thirdly, to study the moderator role of empowering leadership in
the relationship between the 02 dimensions of intrinsic motivation
and creativity;
Lastly, to propose recommendations to promote employee’s
motivation for creativity basing on the above-mentioned objectives in

standards and measures to find out employees with outstanding
intrinsic motivation, especially the challenge dimension. Thereby,
recruit employees with intrinsic motivation, and then facilitate and
develop them into the enterprise’s core team;

Finally, create open administrative mechanisms that encourage
creativity.
5.4 Short coming and next research approach
First, the study is of data slicing design, basing on representative
samples and at a certain time;
Secondly, data collected from technical staff, engineers and
experts directly involved in system regulation and operation


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clearer directions of intrinsic motivation, especially when placed in

the context of power generation in Vietnamese electricity industry in

the relationship with creativity. Specifically, the challenge dimension

general.

of the intrinsic motivation attaches importance to the cognitive

3. Object and scope of research

process, reflecting the motivation driven by a conscious focus on the

Object of research: The impact of intrinsic motivation (in terms of

upcoming challenges and the needs to address complex tasks. On the

challenge and enjoyment) on creativity at individual level; moderator

contrary, the enjoyment dimension of the intrinsic motivation

role of the empowering leadership in the relationship between

attaches importance to personal feelings, reflecting the motivation

intrinsic motivation (in terms of challenge and enjoyment) and

driven by a conscious focus on the feeling of enjoyment when

creativity at individual level.

performing the actions of the task, preferring to experience the

Object of survey: Technical staff, engineers and experts directly

problem rather than engaging to seek for ways to solve problems or

participate in the regulation and management of system operation.

finding smart and appropriate solutions. This indicates that if focus

These are the ones whose work requires a high level of autonomy,

on implications of the challenge dimension, performance of creativity

flexibility and creativity to be effective.

shall improve and are suitable for all contexts including work or art

Scope of research:

environment.

- Research time: 2010 – 2018.

In addition, the research focus and emphasis of this thesis is to

- Research object: Vietnamese generation companies including

consider the role empowering leadership with this relationship

more than 451 power plants of 357 enterprises; in which, Vietnamese

because previous studies have largely focused on the intermediary

enterprises operating in the field of electricity generation (hereinafter

role of intrinsic motivation between the contextual factors and

referred to as electricity generation enterprises) are the ones granted

creativity while few mentioned the important role of regulatory

electricity operation license (Circular No. 12/2017/TT-BCT, 2017)

factors in the context of the changing relationship between intrinsic

and owns power plants in the territory of Vietnam and its main

motivation and creativity. In which, empowering leadership is one of

product is electricity.

the effective and basic method with regular and continuous influence

4. New contributions of the thesis

on the motivation promoting creativity as well as the ability to create

- In theoretical terms: (i) Provide substantiation to reinforce the

sustainable results for the future. Therefore, the thesis has

theoretical view that intrinsic motivation has molecular structure

contributed to exploiting the other role of this factor, specifically: the

including 02 independent components which are challenge and

relationship between the challenge dimension of motivation and

enjoyment dimensions; (ii) The key and new point of this research is

creativity will be stronger in the context of empowerment leadership.

the moderator role of the empowering leadership in the relationship

between the dimensions of intrinsic motivation and creativity; (iii)

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Provide an additional indicator (observed variable) to the research

2. An indicator is added for the usefulness of creativity variable

variable "Creative" and have proved that this indicator is reliable and

and proved to be highly reliable and consistent with the thesis’

consistent with the research context of the thesis.

research context.

- In practical terms: (i) Suggest new solutions to enhance

3. Affirm that intrinsic motivation is not a single concept but a

creativity focusing on the challenge dimension; (ii) Suggest that a

molecular structure including 02 independent dimensions, challenge

way to strengthen the relationship between intrinsic motivation with

and enjoyment. Prove that the challenge dimension has a positive

creativity can pay attention to the issue of empowerment; (iii) The

impact on creativity while the relationship between the enjoyment

research model developed from Western doctrines tested in Vietnam

dimension and creativity dimension is not statistically significant.

will consider whether the concept of Western empowerment,

Thereby, suggest explaining the cause of inconsistent relationship

motivation and creativity theories can be applied to various cultural

between intrinsic motivation and creativity due to the tendency to use

contexts (eg Vietnam, specifically power generation enterprises).

Enjoyment dimension to measure or represent intrinsic motivation

5. Structure of the thesis

while considering in the relationship with creativity.

After the Introduction, the thesis consists of the following

4. Assess the status of intrinsic motivation (Enjoyment and

sections: Literature review; Theoretical basis; Research methods;

Challenge dimensions), creativity, and empowering leadership of

Research

Vietnamese power generation enterprises. At the same time, compare

results;

Comments

on

research

results

and

recommendations.

and analyze the differences between businesses with different
characteristics to make appropriate recommendations.

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

5. Assert the empowering leadership plays the role of a regulatory

1.1. Main approaches in studying creativity

variable and has a positive impact on the relationship between

The thesis applies Social Psychology approach and Organizational

Challenge dimension and creativity; simultaneously, suggest some

Behavior to build a theoretical model to test hypotheses about

additional issues related to the level of empowerment, empowered

relationships and coordination between employee external and

subjects and types of empowered work in the thesis research context.

internal factors to enhance creativity.
1.2. Research on factor affecting creativity
Basing on the above-mentioned factors affecting employees'

5.2 Comments on research results
These empirical results plays an important role in reinforcing the
theory of intrinsic motivation with molecular structure including two

The results also

creativity, it can be seen that intrinsic motivation and issues

independent dimensions: challenge and enjoyment.

relating to leadership such as the encouragement, support and

confirm the function of intrinsic motivation is to control the

exchange of leaders/management to employees are claimed to be the

conscious concentration and thus opening arguments about the


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b. Varification the empowering leadership impact on the
relationship between the enjoyment dimension of intrinsic
motivation and creativity
Table 4.11: Analysis of factors influencing creativity
coeff
se
t
p
LLCI ULCI
Enjoyment
.0340 .1850
.1839
.8542 -.3294 .3975
Empowerment .3952 .1874 2.1082 .0355 .0269 .7635
Enjoyment x
.0566 .0578
.9794
.3279 -.0569 .1701
Empowerment
Source: Summarized from AMOS data processing application

Results indicate that:
- The relationship between Enjoyment dimension of intrinsic
motivation and creativity are not statistically significant (p-value >
0.05).
- The relationship between the enjoyment dimension of intrinsic
motivation and empowering leadership and creativity are not
statistically significant (p-value > 0.05).
In conclusion, the results indicate that Hypothesis H4 is not
accepted.

two most important factors due to their frequent occurrence in many
research results domestically and internationally.
1.3 Some inconsistent results between intrinsic motivation and
creativity
In theorical terms, according to Amabile's Componential Theory
of creativity (1983), intrinsic motivation is one of the most important
and influential impact on employee's creativity (Amabile et al. 1996;
Shalley, 1991/1995). However, the results of experiments and field
studies on this relationship have some inconsistent evidence.
1.4 The potential of the moderator role of the empowering
leadership in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and
creativity
Although no direct study has examined the moderator role of the
empowering leadership factor in the relationship between intrinsic
motivation and creativity, this possibility is comprehensively
grounded. In particular, in terms of internal meaning, the cocept of
empowering leadership and intrinsic motivation are correlated when
the implications of both concepts are to promoting autonomy and

CHAPTER 5: COMMENT ON RESULTS AND

enhancing the employees’ engagement to the task; these are the

RECOMMENDATIONS

necessary conditions to create creativity, thereby promoting the

5.1 Summary of research results
1. In the context of electricity generation enterprises in Vietnam,

positive impact of intrinsic motivation on individual creativity.
1.5 Research gap and the focus of the thesis

the usefulness is particularly emphasized more than the novelty,

In theoretical terms, intrinsic motivation is a solid predictor of

which indicate the interest in the relevance of creative results to

creativity. Review of researches over the past 30 years shows an

organizations since the ultimate goal of creativity in work context is

unstable relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity.

to create value for the organization; the novelty is necessary but not

The existence of two different dimensions of intrinsic motivation

enough; the important thing is the usefulness and contribution value

can provide an important explanation for inconsistent results on the

to the organization.

relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity. However,

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this research direction requires more empirical evidence and should
be considered in other contexts and areas to reinforce its argument.
Moreover, the context and the moderator role of this factor can
provide an important explanation of the variable relationship between
intrinsic motivation and creativity even though this issue has not
attracted attention from researches. In addition, although there is no
direct study that examines the moderator role of the empowering
leadership factor in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and
creativity, this possibility is comprehensively grounded. In particular,
in terms of internal meaning, the cocept of empowering leadership
and intrinsic motivation are correlated when the implications of both
concepts are to promoting autonomy and enhancing the employees’
engagement to the task; these are the necessary conditions to create
creativity, thereby promoting the positive impact of intrinsic
motivation on creativity.
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BASIS
2.1 Creativity
Creativity is understood as the ability to create ideas, products,
services or a new, useful process and apply those new, useful ideas
into practice to create new products or new processes in organization
(Amabile, 1988; Madjar, Oldham and Pratt, 2002; Shalley, Gilson
and Blum, 2000; Zhou and Shalley, 2003; Shalley and Zhou, 2008).

2.2 Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is the level of perseverance, enjoyment or
concentration of an individual on his work and participation in that
work for the purpose of each task to implement it (Utman, 1997).

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Table 4.9: Analysis of factors influencing creativity
coeff
se
t
p
LLCI ULCI
Challenge
0.3515 0.0923 3.8104 0.0002 0.1702 0.5328
Empowerment 0.6973 0.1077 6.4733 0.0000 0.4856 0.9090
Challenge x
0.1164 0.0277 4.1984 0.0000 0.0619 0.1708
Empowerment
Source: Summarized from AMOS data processing application
Results indicate that:
- The relationship between Challenge dimension of intrinsic
motivation and creativity are statistically significant (p-value <0.05).
- The relationship between the empowering leadership and
creativity are statistically significant (p-value <0.05).
- The relationship between the challenge dimension of intrinsic
motivation and empowering leadership and creativity are statistically
significant (p-value = 0.005 <0.05).
Table 4.10: Analysis of the relationship between the challenge
dimension and creativity under the influence of empowering
leadership

Effect
se
t
p
LLCI
ULCI
0,6230
0,0339
18,3772
0,0000
0,5564
0,6896
0,7394
0,0236
31,3882
0,0000
0,6931
0,7857
0,7808
0,0267
29,2243
0,0000
0,7283
0,8332
Source: Summarized from AMOS data processing application
- At the low, medium and high levels of the empowering
leadership, the relationship between the challenge dimension of
intrinsic motivation and creativity is statistically significant (p-value
<0.05) and this influence gradually increases.
In conclusion, the results indicate that Hypothesis H3 is accepted:

The empowering leadership regulate the relationship between the
Challengeg dimension of intrinsic motivation and creativity, the link
of which is stronger in case of enhancing the empowerment.


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Table 4.8: Unstandardized regression weight
Estimated
P-value
Creativity
<--Challenge
0,351
0,000
Creativity
<--Enjoyment
0,026
0,587
Source: Summarized from AMOS data processing application
Hypothesis H1: The challenge dimension of intrinsic motivation
positively influences creativity, results indicate that this hypothesis is
accepted at 95% reliability due to P-value =0.000 < 0.05.
Hypothesis H2: The enjoyment dimension of intrinsic motivation
positively influences creativity, results indicate that this hypothesis
has P-value = 0.587 > 0.05 which means the relationship between
Enjoyment dimension of intrinsic motivation and creativity is not
statistically significant.
+) ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY FACTOR WITH A.F.
HAYES PROCESS TOOL
To analyze regulatory factor, the author used Model 1 of A.F.
Hayes (2013):

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2.3 Empowering leadership
The empowering leadership is the promotion of the feeling that
one’s work iss meaningful; facilitating the participation in decision
making; demonstrating trust with high job performance and
psychology of autonomy to eliminate complex procedures (Ahearne,
Mathieu and Rapp, 2005; Conger and Kanungo, 1988; Thomas and
Velthouse, 1990).
2.4 The relationship between empowering leadership, intrinsic
motivation and creativity
2.4.1 The relationship between the challenge and enjoyment
dimensions and creativity
The challenge dimensions of intrinsic motivation that reflect
motivation are driven by a conscious focus on upcoming challenges
and the needs to prefer complex tasks. At the same time, in solving
problem, thinking efforts can be stressful and anxious (Cacioppo et
al., 1996), but those with intrinsic motivation in the high challenge
dimension are less stressed by tasks of intellectual challenge and
simultaneously prefer to solve the bottom of the problem; therefore,
the proposed solution is likely to both novelty and usefulness of
creativity. Thus, it can be seen that the focus of intrinsic motivation
in Challenge dimension is toward the awareness to overcome
challenges and solve complex problems, which shows that the
dimension of this intrinsic motivation has an active relationship with
creativity. Therefore, the thesis proposes:
Hypothesis H1: The challenge dimension of intrinsic motivation

Figure 4.3: A.F. Hayes Model No. 1 on regulatory factor analysis
a. Varification the empowering leadership impact on the

relationship between the challenge dimension of intrinsic
motivation and creativity

reflects the motive driven by a conscious focus on the feeling of

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enjoyment when performing actions of the task, preferring to

variance extracted, the average variance extracted of measures
basically meet the requirement (EVA> 0.5). Consequently, concepts
achieve convergent value (Gerbring and Anderson, 1988) (quoted
from Nguyen Khanh Duy, 2009, p. 21).
- Distinguishing value: We varify hypothesis H0: The correlation
coefficient between concepts is 1. From the collected data, all of the
correlations have P-value <0.05. Thus, the correlation coefficients of
each pair of concepts differ from 1 at 95% of reliability. In
conclusion, these concepts have distinguishing values.
- Uniqueness: The model reaches a relative level of compatibility
and there is no correlation between measurement errors which means
the model has uniqueness.
4.2.4 Result of varification of research hypotheses

experience the problem rather than finding smart and appropriate
solutions. Individuals affected by this motivation dimension tend to
feel that "doing this task is enjoying." However, some studies show
that Enjoyment dimension positively influences the novelty of
creative products (Hirt et al., 1996) and is particularly relevant in the

context of artistic and literary composition when the main goal is
expressing Ego, promoting emotions and personal imprints though it
focus less to address the purpose of the task. Therefore, the thesis
also propose:
Hypothesis H2: The enjoyment dimension of intrinsic motivation
positively influences creativity

positively influences creativity
On the contrary, the enjoyment dimension of intrinsic motivation

2.4.2 Moderator role of the empowering leadership in the
relationship between the challenge and enjoyment dimensions of
intrinsic motivation and creativity
In the leadership-related factors and the empowerment leadership
style plays a particularly important role. In terms of the nature of
creativity, such empowerment creates the working environment in
which employees are encouraged and empowered to explore diverse
creative options before choosing a possible creative solution. Exams
to solve problems (Amabile et al., 1996).
Moreover, if leaders and managers clearly define creativity or
problem solving as a goal, help employees clearly understand the
goal, empower and provide them tools to perform the task in the best
way, employees will direct their attention, effort and energy to the
goal by actively participating in the creative process (Speller &
Schumacher, 1975; Carson & Carson, 1993).

Figure 4.2: Result of varification research model and
hypotheses with SEM
Source: Summarized from AMOS data processing application

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Table 4.6: Summary of the adjusted quantity of observed
variables after data processing

reliant and trusted in their work, especially the more they feel that

Author

Initial
quantity

Quantity after
Cronbach’s
Alpha’s
analysis

Quantity
after
EFA

Ahearne et al
(2005)

10

9

9

Amabile et al
(1994)

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3

3

Name of
measure
Empowering
Leadership
Intrinsic
Motivation
(Challenge
dimension)
Intrinsic
Motivation
(Enjoyment
dimension)

Creativity

In addition, empowerment can make employees feel more selfdecisions come from their wishes instead of others’ requirement. This
can increase feelings of enjoyment when satisfying your personal ego
and the needs of self-assertion and expression of Enjoyment

dimension towards creativity. Or facing difficult, complex,
unexpected and unusual work situations, empowerment gives
employees a sense of controlling their work and help them to
proactively propose solutions within their competence, promotes

Amabile et al
(1994)
Zhou and
George (2001)
+ 01 variable
of the author
derived from
qualitative
research

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employees’ effort and sense enjoyment to create various work
outcomes, thereby increasing the impact of the challenge dimension
on creativity.
Therefore, the thesis propose|:

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Hypothesis H3: Empowering leadership regulates the relationship
between the challenge dimension of intrinsic motivation and
creativity, the link of which is stronger in case of enhancing the

Source: Summarized by author
4.2.3.3 Result of confirmation factor analysis (CFA)
Varification of the appropriateness of the model (Critical
measurement model has 318 degrees of freedom. CFA results show
that the model is of relative compatibility with the overall: λ2[132] =
391,126 (P-value= 0,000<0,05); Chi-square/df = 2,963 (<3 – Good);
TLI = 0,947 (>0,9); CFI = 0,954 (>0,9); GFI = 0,904 (>0,9 – Good);
RMSEA = 0,064 (<0,08).);
Convergence value: the standardized weights of the measure are
all high (> 0.5) and the unstandardized weights are statistically
significant (P-value <0.05). All the measurements meet the
requirement for composite reliability (CR> 0.7). In terms of average

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Hypothesis H4: Empowering leadership regulates the relationship
between the enjoyment dimension of intrinsic motivation and
creativity, the link of which is stronger in case of enhancing the
empowerment
2.5 Research models and hypotheses
From theoretical basis, the research proposes the expected
research model below.

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EMPOWERING
LEADERSHIP
H3

empowerment

H4

CHALLENGE
H1
CREATIVITY
H2
ENJOYMENT

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Figure 2.4: Proposed research model
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research procedure
The thesis is conducted basing on the qualitative and quantitative
research method: (i) To ensure objectivity, logicality and
universality, the study first identifies research objectives, conducts an
overview to develop theoretical framework and identify research
hypotheses; (ii) Next, qualitative research was conducted to explore
the relationship between factors by semi-structured in-depth
interviews; (iii) In order to improve variables the measuring research
concepts, a preliminary quantitative research (pilot test) was
conducted in a power generation enterprise; (iv) Finally, the formal
quantitative research was conducted at 36 power generation

enterprises to test research hypotheses and report on research results.
Steps of research procedure:

Kurtosis are within the respective allowable limit of about +/- 2. The
above results confirm that the measures with distribution are
accurate, meeting the requirements of verification and analysis in the
following sections.
4.2.3 Results of factor verification
4.2.3.1 Result of varification of measures’ reliability (Cronbach’s
Alpha)
The results show that there are some relative adjustments of
measures, specifically: TQ6 (My manager believes in my ability to
improve/correct even if I make a mistake); DL14 (I like relatively
simple tasks (R)); DL21 (I want to discover how well I can do when I
do my job); DL26 (I like tasks that can be so appealing that I forget
everything around); and ST10 (I propose new ways to perform tasks)
with a total correlation coefficient <0.3.
4.2.3.2 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
After the first EFA, the ST9 measure (I have new ideas and
breakthrough improvements) with the factor loading <0.5 was
removed. After removing the ST9 measure, the result after processing
SPSS data is as follows: Transmission coefficient of all variables
are> 0.5, meeting the requirement; KMO coefficient reaches 0.907,
so EFA is suitable for data. Chi - Square statistics of Bartlett 's test
have significance Sig. = 0,000 which means that the observed
variables are correlated in terms of the overall scope; The results of
factor analysis also showed that the variance is interpreted as 62.61%
(greater than 50%), which indicates that these 3 factors can explain
for the 62.61% variation of data, this is a good result; The stop while
extracting factors at the third factor with the eigenvalue is 1,535. The

results of factor analysis are appropriate. Thus, the results indicate
that 27 observed variables after factor analysis satisfy all conditions.


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In fact, the ownership of technology in power plants is mainly at
the exploitation and operation process while other issues related to
the fabrication of main components and replacement of parts still
depend entirely on experts from oversea firms, especially for gas
turbine thermal power and renewable energy. Therefore, creative
activities at power plants mainly stems from the process of
rationalization of production in the calculation, regulation and
optimal operation of the system including formulation of bidding and
marketing strategies, troubleshooting as well as maintenance, at the
same time focusing on the objects who are direct manpower of
electricity production because the number of technicians working in
operating positions in power business always accounts for a large
proportion (over 70%).
4.2 Results of the official quantitative research
4.2.1 Statistical description of research sample
The number of power plants in the survey sample is over 36
power generation enterprises owning power plants of all types
including Hydroelectricity, Coal Thermoelectricity, Gas Turbine,
Renewable Energy, belonging to the model of State-owned
enterprise, Domestic and Foreign Investors (BOT), enterprises
participating in the electricity market and enterprises not participating
in the electricity market. The number of questionnaires issued is 550,
the number of collected is 503 (accounting for 91.4%), of which
479/503 can be used (accounting for 95.2%) ).
4.2.2 Calibration results of measures distribution format

The collected data illustrates that the smallest and largest values
of measures are in the range of 1 to 5, which implies that there is no
limit to the variation of the used measures. These values fluctuate
around the equilibrium value of 3.26; The standard deviation value is
less than 1.0. Finally, the two absolute values of Skewness and

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TASK

TOOL

RESULT

Initial Hypothesized Model
and Measures

Literature Review

Qualitative Research
(15 employees of 06 Gencos)

Semi-structured in
depth interview

Adjustment Hypothesized
Model and Measures (round 1)

Quantitative Research (Pilot)
n = 148 employees of Son La

Hydro Plant

Cronbach’s Alpha

Completed Measures

Quantitative Research
n = 479 employees of 36 Gencos

Cronbach’s Alpha,
EFA

Official Measures

CFA, SEM,
Process of Hayes

Analysis of Hypothesis

Descriptives,
Oneway - Anova

Analysis of differences between
the groups of research subjects

Solution

Figure 3.1: Research procedure
Source: Summarized by author
3.2 Qualitative research

The initial qualitative research was conducted with 15 officials
from 06 power plants by semi-structured in-depth interviews. At each
plant, a manager, officer or engineer with many recognized
achievements on creativity is selected to interview. The interviewees
have at least 5 years of experience and are knowledgeable about the
operation of enterprises, organizations and the electricity industry,

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and have at least 01 initiatives or improvements recognized at
company level. The results are compared with the personnel profile
as well as survey conducted with colleagues and superiors of the
interviewees.
Results of qualitative research:
(1) In the context of electricity generation enterprises in Vietnam,
the usefulness is especially emphasized more than novelty; Creative
activities at power plants come from the process of production.
Therefore, creative activities focus mainly in the direct production
group rather than the indirect group, while the results of creativity in
power plants tend to be the in the form of improvement that changes
the existence (modification) (Kreitner and Kinicki, 2004);
(2) Subjects led by high level of intrinsic motivation have more
ideas, innovations and improvements in more regular frequencies and
they are often the key players in proposing and implementing those
creative solutions. Therefore, there exists a positive relationship
between high intrinsic motivation and creativity.
(3) There are some implied evidences that intrinsic motivation has
two dimensions which are challenge and enjoyment. However, the

implication of the challenge dimension is emphasized and mentioned
more than the enjoyment dimension in the context of electricity
generation enterprises in Vietnam;
(4) The impact level of the intrinsic motivation on creativity has a
positive change when it comes to the factors of empowering
leadership context and vice versa. However, the extent of
empowerment and the type of empowered work is different for
different subjects.
With these findings and arguments, the author suggests: (i)
Maintaining the research model and hypothesis, continuing to test
with quantitative research for the initial model and hypothesis; (ii)

Add one measure for creativity factor, namely: "My solutions bring
practical value to the organization"; (iii) Some new findings on the
above factors in the context of electricity generation enterprises in
Vietnam will be the basis for commenting on research results and
recommendations for the next sections.
3.3 Preliminary study at an electricity generation enterprise
Preliminary quantitative research was conducted with a survey of
170 staff from direct group of Son La Hydropower Company. After
collecting the required number of questionnaires, the author classified
them. Among, 148 out of 153 collected questionnaires can be used to
analyze and determine the reliability of the measures. The results
show some relative adjustments of the measures.
3.4 Official survey research
The official quantitative research was conducted with 550 staff of
direct groups from 36 electricity generation enterprises. The collected
data was used for measurement reliability analysis, exploratory factor
analysis (EFA), affirmative factor analysis (CFA), and testing of
research hypothesis with SEM linear structure model and analysis

with the Process tool of AF Hayes to test the impact of independent
variables on the dependent variables.
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS
4.1 Research context
The production of electricity as well as enterprises in the field of
electricity generation are the key component in the chain of
Geneation - Transmission - Distribution and Trading of electricity,
especially when electricity generation accounts for the largest
proportion of electricity production cost. Moreover, the pressure of
the competitive electricity market has forced power generation
enterprises to innovate and restructure to achieve better efficiency.