Shared leadership, as an informal, collective leadership style, has been found to improve team creativity through team cognitive processes. Beyond such mechanisms, we propose a moderated dual-path model based on the social model of creativity combined with the cognitive-affective processing system framework. In this model, we first simultaneously examine the cognitive and affective mechanisms linking shared leadership with team creativity. Second, we introduce collectivistic-HRM as a formal contextual condition, and explore its joint effect with shared leadership. Results of two studies (Study one: 387 MBA students in 81 teams; Study two: 253 employees in 65 teams) revealed that shared leadership not only promoted team information sharing, but also enhanced team relational energy, both of which ultimately enhanced team creativity. Moreover, the presence of high collectivistic-HRM buffered the indirect effect of shared leadership on team creativity via team information sharing, whereas strengthened the indirect effect via team relational energy.
