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Purpose As a new human resource management practice, developmental idiosyncratic deals (developmental I-deals) play an important role in attracting, retaining and motivating employees to promote creativity. Based on the social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of developmental I-deals on team creativity through team creative-efficacy and the moderating role of error management atmosphere in this process. Design/methodology/approach To reduce the effects of common method biases and causal lag effect, this study was divided into three stages for data collection, with a time interval of a month. A total of 365 employee samples (72 team samples) from seven internet enterprises in Shanghai and Wuhan were selected, and Bootstrap method and Johnson-Neyman method were used to test the hypothesis. Findings The results of this study show that developmental I-deals positively affect team creativity, and team creative-efficacy mediates the relationship between developmental I-deals and team creativity. Error management atmosphere strengthens the impact of developmental I-deals on team creative-efficacy and further strengthens the indirect effect of developmental I-deals on team creativity through team creative-efficacy. Originality/value Based on the social cognitive theory, this study examines the impact of developmental I-deals on team creativity through team creative-efficacy and the moderating role of error management atmosphere in this process. First, the study of I-deals category was further refined. The existing research defines the concept of I-deals in a general way and does not classify it in detail. Second, the internal mechanism of I-deals is revealed. Third, it expands the multi-level research of I-deals.