IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v155y2019icp7-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Creativity under workload pressure and integrative complexity: The double-edged sword of paradoxical leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Shao, Yan
  • Nijstad, Bernard A.
  • Täuber, Susanne

Abstract

Modern-day organizations often demand creativity, but motivating creativity under unfavorable conditions such as high workload pressure is difficult. Integrating paradox theory and social cognitive theory, we conceptualize creativity as a process that involves tensions among competing goals and demands, and those tensions become salient under high workload pressure. We propose that learning to constructively deal with such salient tensions is important for the development of creativity and that paradoxical leader behavior (PLB) may stimulate creativity by enhancing employees’ creative self-efficacy (CSE) in such challenging situations. However, PLB will only promote CSE and employee creativity when employees have a high level of integrative complexity to accept and appreciate the complex and paradoxical behaviors of the leader. Based on data from 252 employee-supervisor dyads, we found that through CSE, PLB was most effective in promoting employee creativity when workload pressure and integrative complexity were both high. However, PLB was less effective for promoting CSE and creativity when workload pressure was low, or when workload pressure was high while integrative complexity was low. Implications and limitations of our research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Shao, Yan & Nijstad, Bernard A. & Täuber, Susanne, 2019. "Creativity under workload pressure and integrative complexity: The double-edged sword of paradoxical leadership," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 7-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:155:y:2019:i:c:p:7-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.01.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597818301031
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.01.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Constantine Andriopoulos & Marianne W. Lewis, 2009. "Exploitation-Exploration Tensions and Organizational Ambidexterity: Managing Paradoxes of Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 696-717, August.
    2. Sacramento, Claudia A. & Fay, Doris & West, Michael A., 2013. "Workplace duties or opportunities? Challenge stressors, regulatory focus, and creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 141-157.
    3. Bledow, Ronald & Frese, Michael & Anderson, Neil & Erez, Miriam & Farr, James, 2009. "A Dialectic Perspective on Innovation: Conflicting Demands, Multiple Pathways, and Ambidexterity," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 305-337, September.
    4. Miron-Spektor, Ella & Beenen, Gerard, 2015. "Motivating creativity: The effects of sequential and simultaneous learning and performance achievement goals on product novelty and usefulness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 53-65.
    5. Ravi Mehta & Meng Zhu, 2016. "Creating When You Have Less: The Impact of Resource Scarcity on Product Use Creativity," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(5), pages 767-782.
    6. Liu, Dong & Jiang, Kaifeng & Shalley, Christina E. & Keem, Sejin & Zhou, Jing, 2016. "Motivational mechanisms of employee creativity: A meta-analytic examination and theoretical extension of the creativity literature," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 236-263.
    7. Daniel R. Denison & Robert Hooijberg & Robert E. Quinn, 1995. "Paradox and Performance: Toward a Theory of Behavioral Complexity in Managerial Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(5), pages 524-540, October.
    8. O'Reilly, Charles A., III & Tushman, Michael L., 2013. "Organizational Ambidexterity: Past, Present and Future," Research Papers 2130, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    9. Kimberly D. Elsbach & Andrew B. Hargadon, 2006. "Enhancing Creativity Through “Mindless” Work: A Framework of Workday Design," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 470-483, August.
    10. Tom J. M. Mom & Frans A. J. van den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2009. "Understanding Variation in Managers' Ambidexterity: Investigating Direct and Interaction Effects of Formal Structural and Personal Coordination Mechanisms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 812-828, August.
    11. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    12. Walumbwa, Fred O. & Mayer, David M. & Wang, Peng & Wang, Hui & Workman, Kristina & Christensen, Amanda L., 2011. "Linking ethical leadership to employee performance: The roles of leader-member exchange, self-efficacy, and organizational identification," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 204-213, July.
    13. Miron-Spektor, Ella & Gino, Francesca & Argote, Linda, 2011. "Paradoxical frames and creative sparks: Enhancing individual creativity through conflict and integration," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 229-240.
    14. Huang, Lei & Krasikova, Dina V. & Liu, Dong, 2016. "I can do it, so can you: The role of leader creative self-efficacy in facilitating follower creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 49-62.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mannucci, Pier Vittorio & Shalley, Christina E., 2022. "Embracing multicultural tensions: How team members’ multicultural paradox mindsets foster team information elaboration and creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Palmié, Maximilian & Parida, Vinit & Mader, Anna & Wincent, Joakim, 2023. "Clarifying the scaling concept: A review, definition, and measure of scaling performance and an elaborate agenda for future research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Ying Xue & Xiyuan Li & Hao Liang & Yuan Li, 2020. "How Does Paradoxical Leadership Affect Employees’ Voice Behaviors in Workplace? A Leader-Member Exchange Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, February.
    4. Heesun Chae & Jisung Park, 2023. "The Effects of Routinization on Radical and Incremental Creativity: The Mediating Role of Mental Workloads," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Fengmei Ren & Yuerong Zhou & Zhigang Song, 2024. "After-Hours Work Challenges and Employee Creativity: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Chih-Hsing Liu & Quoc Phong La & Yen-Ling Ng & Rullyana Puspitaningrum Mamengko, 2023. "Discovering the Sustainable Innovation Service Process of Organizational Environment, Information Sharing and Satisfaction: The Moderating Roles of Pressure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-26, July.
    7. Zuzana Lušňáková & Silvia Lenčéšová & Veronika Hrdá & Mária Šajbidorová, 2020. "Innovative Processes Within Communication and Motivation, Work Environment Care and Creativity Support of Human Resources," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 395-405.
    8. Waldman, David A. & Putnam, Linda L. & Miron-Spektor, Ella & Siegel, Donald, 2019. "The role of paradox theory in decision making and management research," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1-6.
    9. Wei, Wu & Zhou, Ying & Wang, Danni, 2023. "Learning to integrate conflicts: Paradoxical leadership fosters team innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    10. Miron-Spektor, Ella & Emich, Kyle J. & Argote, Linda & Smith, Wendy K., 2022. "Conceiving opposites together: Cultivating paradoxical frames and epistemic motivation fosters team creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Busola Oluwafemi, Tolulope & Mitchelmore, Siwan & Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Leading innovation: Empirical evidence for ambidextrous leadership from UK high-tech SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 195-208.
    2. Gaim, Medhanie, 2018. "On the emergence and management of paradoxical tensions: The case of architectural firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 497-518.
    3. Schnellbächer, Benedikt & Heidenreich, Sven & Wald, Andreas, 2019. "Antecedents and effects of individual ambidexterity – A cross-level investigation of exploration and exploitation activities at the employee level," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 442-454.
    4. Olli-Pekka Kauppila & Michiel P. Tempelaar, 2016. "The Social-Cognitive Underpinnings of Employees’ Ambidextrous Behaviour and the Supportive Role of Group Managers’ Leadership," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 1019-1044, September.
    5. Mile Katic & Renu Agarwal, 2018. "The Flexibility Paradox: Achieving Ambidexterity in High-Variety, Low-Volume Manufacturing," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 19(1), pages 69-86, March.
    6. Kristina Stoiber & Kurt Matzler & Julia Hautz, 2023. "Ambidextrous structures paving the way for disruptive business models: a conceptual framework," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1439-1485, May.
    7. Andreea N. Kiss & Dirk Libaers & Pamela S. Barr & Tang Wang & Miles A. Zachary, 2020. "CEO cognitive flexibility, information search, and organizational ambidexterity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2200-2233, December.
    8. Karl Aschenbrücker & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Performance-based incentives and innovative activity in small firms: evidence from German manufacturing," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(2), pages 47-64, June.
    9. Gaim, Medhanie & Wåhlin, Nils, 2016. "In search of a creative space: A conceptual framework of synthesizing paradoxical tensions," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 33-44.
    10. Hortovanyi, Lilla & Szabo, Roland Zs & Fuzes, Peter, 2021. "Extension of the strategic renewal journey framework: The changing role of middle management," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. van Assen, Marcel F., 2020. "Empowering leadership and contextual ambidexterity – The mediating role of committed leadership for continuous improvement," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 435-449.
    12. François Constant & Richard Calvi & Thomas Johnsen, 2020. "Managing tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation through purchasing function ambidexterity Managing tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation through purchasing functio," Post-Print hal-02891790, HAL.
    13. Hughes, Paul & Hughes, Matthew & Stokes, Peter & Lee, Hanna & Rodgers, Peter & Degbey, William Y., 2020. "Micro-foundations of organizational ambidexterity in the context of cross-border mergers and acquisitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    14. Miron-Spektor, Ella & Emich, Kyle J. & Argote, Linda & Smith, Wendy K., 2022. "Conceiving opposites together: Cultivating paradoxical frames and epistemic motivation fosters team creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    15. Olga Kassotaki, 2022. "Review of Organizational Ambidexterity Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    16. David B. Audretsch & Maribel Guerrero, 2023. "Is ambidexterity the missing link between entrepreneurship, management, and innovation?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1891-1918, December.
    17. Christine Chou & Steven O. Kimbrough, 2016. "An agent-based model of organizational ambidexterity decisions and strategies in new product development," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 4-46, March.
    18. Wenke, Kathrin & Zapkau, Florian B. & Schwens, Christian, 2021. "Too small to do it all? A meta-analysis on the relative relationships of exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity with SME performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 653-665.
    19. Yasser Alizadeh & Antonie J. Jetter, 2019. "Pathways for Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Innovations: A Review and Expansion of Ambidexterity Theory," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(05), pages 1-33, August.
    20. Lukoschek, Carmen Sabrina & Gerlach, Gisela & Stock, Ruth Maria & Xin, Katherine, 2018. "Leading to sustainable organizational unit performance: Antecedents and outcomes of executives' dual innovation leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 266-276.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:155:y:2019:i:c:p:7-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.