Supervisor negative feedback and subordinate creative behavior: The role of cognitive appraisal and regulatory focus

Abstract

The literature provides conflicting evidence regarding the effect of supervisor negative feedback on subordinate creativity. This study draws on a self-regulatory perspective to develop a theoretical model in which supervisor negative feedback provided in different ways initiates subordinates’ distinct cognitive appraisals of feedback stimuli and, thereby, triggers regulation of subordinates’ creative behavior, which is the behavioral manifestation of creativity. Furthermore, this study suggests that the subordinate's regulatory focus is a dispositional boundary condition that influences the effect of supervisor negative feedback on subordinate creative behavior. A scenario-based experimental study and time-lagged field study showed that (1) the supervisor's developmental negative feedback triggers both challenge appraisal and hindrance appraisal, while the supervisor's controlling negative feedback only induces hindrance appraisal; and (2) the supervisor's developmental negative feedback exerts an indirect positive effect on self-reported subordinate creative behavior via challenge appraisal, which is significantly strengthened by the subordinate's promotion focus, while the supervisor's controlling negative feedback exerts an indirect negative effect on supervisor-assessed subordinate creative behavior via hindrance appraisal. The results of this study add to the literature on the complex links between supervisor negative feedback and individual creativity by highlighting a process-based view of creativity and reconciling conflicting findings. This work clarifies the self-regulatory mechanism of individual creative behavior in response to supervisor negative feedback.