Daily Idea Generation and Employee Creative Performance: Effect of Day-Level Congruence Between Felt Responsibility for Change and Willingness to Take Risks

Abstract

This study explores a potential joint effect between two proactive motives on creative performance. Departing from the assumption of motivation as a relatively stable between-person construct, we also pay attention to the within-person process to examine how daily fluctuations of proactive motives affect daily idea generation, leading to creative performance. Specifically, drawing on job demands–resources theory, we theorize a joint effect of two proactive motives at the within-person level: daily felt responsibility for change (DFRC) and daily willingness to take risks (DWTR). We test our hypotheses by analyzing data collected from 135 employees and their supervisors by using the experience sampling method followed by multiwave field surveys. Daily idea generation is high when the DFRC and DWTR have high congruence, particularly when both motives are high rather than low. In addition, daily idea generation mediates the effect of the DFRC and DWTR congruence on employee creative performance as appraised by supervisors. Moreover, seeking feedback from coworkers strengthens the indirect effect of the DFRC and DWTR congruence on employee creative performance via daily idea generation. This study offers a fine-grained view of motivational mechanisms and employee social behavior that lead to creative performance in the workplace.