Enhancing MSME Creative Performance: Psychological Well-Being and Motivation as Job Characteristics Mediators

This study investigates the role of job characteristics in enhancing creative performance among employees in medium?sized micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, with psychological well?being and motivation serving as parallel mediating variables. Grounded in the Job Characteristics Model (JCM), the research aims to address existing gaps in understanding the psychological mechanisms that link job design and creativity, particularly in resource?constrained and non?Western contexts. A quantitative approach was employed using a time?lagged, multi?source design across three data collection waves to minimize common method bias and strengthen temporal inference. Data were obtained from 257 employees and their supervisors across major Indonesian innovation hubs, and were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS?SEM). The findings indicate that job characteristics significantly and positively influence both psychological well?being and motivation, which, in turn, significantly enhance creative performance. Although the direct effect of job characteristics on creativity is relatively modest, the indirect effects through motivation and psychological well?being are substantial and statistically significant, confirming a robust parallel mediation mechanism. Motivation emerges as the dominant mediator, suggesting that it plays a central role in translating enriched job design into creative outcomes. The model explains a considerable proportion of the variance in creative performance, underscoring the value of well?designed jobs for fostering innovation in MSME settings. This study extends the Job Characteristics Model to an Indonesian MSME context by integrating motivation and psychological well?being as key psychological mechanisms through which job design affects creativity. The results provide practical implications for MSME managers, highlighting that low?cost job redesign strategies such as increasing skill variety, task significance, autonomy, and feedback can effectively stimulate employee creativity without heavy financial investment.