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The influence of leader regulatory focus on employee creativity

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  • Wu, Cindy
  • McMullen, Jeffery S.
  • Neubert, Mitchell J.
  • Yi, Xiang

Abstract

Brockner and Higgins (Brockner, J., Higgins, E. T. 2001. Regulatory focus theory: Implications for the study of emotions at work. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 86(1), 35-66.) suggest that a leader's behavior may be perceived as an organizational endorsement of promotion-focused or prevention-focused concerns and that this perception will influence employee behavior by eliciting a congruent state of regulatory focus. We tested this hypothesis using matched pairs of leaders and employees from a Chinese firm and found that employee creativity is positively associated with the promotion focus of the supervisor's behavior. Consequently, through their actions, promotion-focused leaders may increase the likelihood of entrepreneurial action in their firms by eliciting a promotion-focused state of eagerness from their employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Cindy & McMullen, Jeffery S. & Neubert, Mitchell J. & Yi, Xiang, 2008. "The influence of leader regulatory focus on employee creativity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 587-602, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:23:y:2008:i:5:p:587-602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lee, Angela Y. & Aaker, Jennifer L. & Gardner, Wendi L., 2000. "The Pleasures and Pains of Distinct Self-Construals: The Role of Interdependence in Regulatory Focus," Research Papers 1577r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
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    10. Shalley, Christina E. & Perry-Smith, Jill E., 2001. "Effects of Social-Psychological Factors on Creative Performance: The Role of Informational and Controlling Expected Evaluation and Modeling Experience," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-22, January.
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    2. Xuequn Wang & Leonard M. Jessup, 2014. "A Review and Synthesis of Entrepreneurship Research: Towards an Integrative Model of Dependent Variables," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 23(2), pages 163-199, September.
    3. Burmeister-Lamp, Katrin & Lévesque, Moren & Schade, Christian, 2012. "Are entrepreneurs influenced by risk attitude, regulatory focus or both? An experiment on entrepreneurs' time allocation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 456-476.
    4. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    5. Justyna Żywiołek & Elena Roxana Tucmeanu & Alin Iulian Tucmeanu & Nicoleta Isac & Zahid Yousaf, 2022. "Nexus of Transformational Leadership, Employee Adaptiveness, Knowledge Sharing, and Employee Creativity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    6. Adomako, Samuel & Opoku, Robert A. & Frimpong, Kwabena, 2017. "The Moderating Influence of Competitive Intensity on the Relationship between CEOs' Regulatory Foci and SME Internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 268-278.
    7. Kammerlander, Nadine & Burger, Dominik & Fust, Alexander & Fueglistaller, Urs, 2015. "Exploration and exploitation in established small and medium-sized enterprises: The effect of CEOs' regulatory focus," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 582-602.
    8. Tumasjan, Andranik & Braun, Reiner, 2012. "In the eye of the beholder: How regulatory focus and self-efficacy interact in influencing opportunity recognition," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 622-636.
    9. Stern Neill & Raghuvar Dutt Pathak & Barbara A. Ribbens & Terry W. Noel & Gurmeet Singh, 2020. "The influence of managerial optimism and self-regulation on learning and business growth expectations within an emerging economic context," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 187-204, March.
    10. McMullen, Jeffery S. & Kier, Alexander S., 2016. "Trapped by the entrepreneurial mindset: Opportunity seeking and escalation of commitment in the Mount Everest disaster," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 663-686.
    11. Adamik Anna, 2016. "The mechanism of building competitiveness through strategic partnering," Management, Sciendo, vol. 20(1), pages 292-309, May.
    12. Ma, Jie (Yonas), 2023. "Curious supervisor puts team innovation within reach: Investigating supervisor trait curiosity as a catalyst for collective actions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    13. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2009. "Managerial (In)attention to Competitive Threats," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 157-181, March.
    14. Ksenia Podoynitsyna & Hans Van der Bij & Michael Song, 2012. "The Role of Mixed Emotions in the Risk Perception of Novice and Serial Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(1), pages 115-140, January.

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