Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of an emerging and idealized leadership style in hospitality research such as servant leadership on employees' innovative work behavior (IWB) via creative self-efficacy. This study also aims to investigate the moderating role of knowledge sharing between creative self-efficacy and IWB. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from employees working in four- and five-star hotels in Pakistan. Partial least square-structural equation modeling via Smart PLS was used for data analysis. Findings: Findings of the study reported the significant mediating effect of creative self-efficacy beliefs between servant leadership and IWB. Furthermore, the relationship between creative self-efficacy and IWB was strengthened to the extent that knowledge sharing among employees in the hotel firms was high. Practical implications: Practitioners looking to enhance creative self-efficacy and IWB can do so by developing the servant leadership qualities of managers. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature by showing creative self-efficacy as a crucial mediating mechanism through which servant leadership enhances employees' IWB in the hospitality industry. Moreover, the findings add understanding in the body of knowledge that knowledge sharing among members in hospitality firms play boundary condition in the creative self-efficacy-IWB linkage.