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The Sustainability of Motivation Driven by High Performance Expectations: A Self-Defeating Effect

Author

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  • Yi Li

    (School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200000, China)

  • Nana Li

    (School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200000, China)

  • Mengru Wu

    (School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200000, China)

  • Man Zhang

    (School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200000, China
    Party School of Anhui Provincial Committee of C.P.C., Hefei 230022, China)

Abstract

It is generally believed that having high performance expectations is an effective means of motivating employees to pursue excellence and sustain the motivation driven by it, while ignoring the negative impact that hinders the incentive to sustain such expectations. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between supervisor’s high performance expectations and the employee’s territoriality utilizing data from 291 supervisor–subordinate dyads from two companies in China. The results revealed that task autonomy moderated the indirect and positive effect of high performance expectations on employees’ territoriality through stress, such that this indirect effect was stronger when employees were assigned to higher levels of task autonomy. The theoretical of these findings, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Li & Nana Li & Mengru Wu & Man Zhang, 2019. "The Sustainability of Motivation Driven by High Performance Expectations: A Self-Defeating Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:16:p:4397-:d:257438
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fan Wang & Man Zhang & Anupam Kumar Das & Haolin Weng & Peilin Yang, 2020. "Aiming at the Organizational Sustainable Development: Employees’ Pro-Social Rule Breaking as Response to High Performance Expectations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.

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