Abstract
Integrating social information processing theory with self-determination theory, we explored the negative influence towards employee creativity from supervisor bottom-line mentality (BLM), which refers to a one-dimensional mindset solely focusing on bottom-line outcomes and neglecting other considerations. By introducing harmonious passion as a potential mechanism beneath the relationship, we proposed that supervisor BLM may deliver information about exclusively pursuing the bottom line and hinder employees from internalization of work activities into their identities, hence weakening their harmoniously passionate motivation at work and in turn impairing their creativity. We further probed humble leadership from behavioral perspective as a boundary condition of such negative influence, referring to supervisors’ admitting their weaknesses and acknowledging employees’ contributions as well as keeping open for new ideas. When supervisors present more humble leadership behaviors, the impeded internalization of employees may be recovered to some extent and the negative relationship between supervisor BLM and employee harmonious passion would be mitigated. An overall moderated mediation was proposed in our research model that humble leadership buffered the indirect effect from supervisor BLM to employee creativity. Our hypotheses were generally supported by a multi-wave survey data collected from an online platform. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Acar, O. A., Tarakci, M., & van Knippenberg, D. (2019). Creativity and innovation under constraints: A cross-disciplinary integrative review. Journal of Management, 45(1), 96–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318805832.
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Sage.
Amabile, T. M. (1988). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 10, 123–167.
Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. (1996). Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), 1154–1184. https://doi.org/10.5465/256995.
Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014). Innovation and creativity in organizations: A state-of-the-science review, prospective commentary, and guiding framework. Journal of Management, 40(5), 1297–1333. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314527128.
Babalola, M. T., Mawritz, M. B., Greenbaum, R. L., Ren, S., & Garba, O. A. (2021). Whatever it takes: How and when supervisor bottom-line mentality motivates employee contributions in the workplace. Journal of Management, 47(5), 1134–1154. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320902521.
Babalola, M. T., Ren, S., Ogbonnaya, C., Riisla, K., Soetan, G. T., & Gok, K. (2022). Thriving at work but insomniac at home: Understanding the relationship between supervisor bottom-line mentality and employee functioning. Human Relations, 75(1), 33–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726720978687.
Baer, M. (2012). Putting creativity to work: The implementation of creative ideas in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1102–1119. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0470.
Baer, M., & Oldham, G. R. (2006). The curvilinear relation between experienced creative time pressure and creativity: Moderating effects of openness to experience and support for creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 963–970. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.963.
Chandler, J. A., Johnson, N. E., Jordan, S. L., & Short, J. C. (2023). A meta-analysis of humble leadership: Reviewing individual, team, and organizational outcomes of leader humility. The Leadership Quarterly, 34(1), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2022.101660.
Chen, S. L., Liu, W. X., Zhu, Y. H., & Shu, P. P. (2022a). Sharing or hiding? The influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee knowledge behaviors. Journal of Knowledge Management, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-05-2022-0421.
Chen, S. L., Zhu, Y. H., Liu, W. X., Mao, J. H., & Gao, K. (2022b). Striving for the bottom line: The impact of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employees’ work effort and helping behavior. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 43(6), 817–834. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj-09-2021-0432.
Curran, T., Hill, A. P., Appleton, P. R., Vallerand, R. J., & Standage, M. (2015). The psychology of passion: A meta-analytical review of a decade of research on intrapersonal outcomes. Motivation and Emotion, 39(5), 631–655. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9503-0.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination theory in human behavior. Plenum.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Facilitating optimal motivation and psychological well-being across life’s domains. Canadian Psychology, 49(1), 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/0708-5591.49.1.14.
Egan, M. (2016). Wells Fargo uncovers up to 1.4 million more fake accounts. CNN Money. Retrieved from https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/31/investing/wells-fargo-fake-accounts/index.htm.
Egan, R., Turner, M., & Blackman, D. (2017). Leadership and employee work passion: Propositions for future empirical investigations. Human Resource Development Review, 16(4), 394–424. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484317724634.
Eyal, P., David, R., Andrew, G., Zak, E., & Ekaterina, D. (2022). Data quality of platforms and panels for online behavioral research. Behavior Research Methods, 54(4), 1643–1662. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01694-3.
Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331–362. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.322.
Gong, Y., Kim, T. Y., Lee, D. R., & Zhu, J. (2013). A multilevel model of team goal orientation, information exchange, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), 827–851. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.0177.
Greenbaum, R. L., Mawritz, M. B., & Eissa, G. (2012). Bottom-line mentality as an antecedent of social undermining and the moderating roles of core self-evaluations and conscientiousness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(2), 343–359. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025217.
Greenbaum, R. L., Bonner, J. M., Mawritz, M. B., Butts, M. M., & Smith, M. B. (2020). It is all about the bottom line: Group bottom-line mentality, psychological safety, and group creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(6), 503–517. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2445.
Greenbaum, R. L., Mawritz, M. B., & Zaman, N. N. (2023). The construct of bottom-line mentality: Where we’ve been and where we’re going. Journal of Management, 49(6), 2109–2147. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063231153135.
Ho, V. T., Kong, D. T., Lee, C., Dubreuil, P., & Forest, J. (2018). Promoting harmonious work passion among unmotivated employees: A two-nation investigation of the compensatory function of cooperative psychological climate. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 106, 112–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.01.005.
Kelemen, T. K., Matthews, S. H., Matthews, M. J., & Henry, S. E. (2023). Humble leadership: A review and synthesis of leader expressed humility. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 44(2), 202–224. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2608.
Kramer, M. R., & Pfitzer, M. (2022). The essential link between ESG targets and financial performance: It’s key to building a sustainable business model. Harvard Business Review, 100(9–10), 128–137.
Lin, X., Chen, Z. X., Tse, H. H., Wei, W., & Ma, C. (2019). Why and when employees like to speak up more under humble leaders? The roles of personal sense of power and power distance. Journal of Business Ethics, 158(4), 937–950. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3704-2.
Liu, D., Chen, X. P., & Yao, X. (2011). From autonomy to creativity: A multilevel investigation of the mediating role of harmonious passion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(2), 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021294.
Liu, D., Jiang, K., Shalley, C. E., Keem, S., & Zhou, J. (2016). Motivational mechanisms of employee creativity: A meta-analytic examination and theoretical extension of the creativity literature. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 137, 236–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.08.001.
Liu, L. J., Fan, Q., Liu, R. H., & Long, J. (2022). How leader bottom-line mentality relates to employee innovation: A cross-layer model mediated by psychological contract breach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 43(4), 580–595. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj-04-2021-0156.
Luu, T. T. (2020). Can sales leaders with humility create adaptive retail salespersons? Psychology & Marketing, 37(9), 1292–1315. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21365.
Mawritz, M. B., Farro, A., Kim, J., Greenbaum, R. L., Bonner, J. M., & Wang, S. C. (2023). Bottom-line mentality from a goal shielding perspective: Does bottom-line mentality explain the link between rewards and unethical behavior? Human Relations, Advanced online publication, https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267221138187.
Mesdaghinia, S., Rawat, A., & Nadavulakere, S. (2019). Why moral followers quit: Examining the role of leader bottom-line mentality and unethical pro-leader behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(2), 491–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3812-7.
Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787–818. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0441.
Owens, B. P., Johnson, M. D., & Mitchell, T. R. (2013). Expressed humility in organizations: Implications for performance, teams, and leadership. Organization Science, 24(5), 1517–1538. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0795.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879.
Pollack, J. M., Ho, V. T., O’Boyle, E. H., & Kirkman, B. L. (2020). Passion at work: A meta-analysis of individual work outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(4), 311–331. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2434.
Qian, S., Liu, Y., & Chen, Y. (2020). Leader humility as a predictor of employees’ feedback-seeking behavior: The intervening role of psychological safety and job insecurity. Current Psychology, 41(3), 1348–1360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00663-x.
Quade, M. J., McLarty, B. D., & Bonner, J. M. (2020). The influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality and employee bottom-line mentality on leader-member exchange and subsequent employee performance. Human Relations, 73(8), 1157–1181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726719858394.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publishing.
Salancik, G. R., & Pfeffer, J. (1978). A social information processing approach to job attitudes and task design. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392563.
Schellenberg, B. J. I., Gaudreau, P., & Bailis, D. S. (2022). Lay theories of obsessive passion and performance: It all depends on the bottom line. Personality and Individual Differences, 190, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111528.
Shalley, C. E., Hitt, M. A., & Zhou, J. (2015). Oxford handbook of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Oxford University Press.
Vallerand, R. J., Blanchard, C., Mageau, G. A., Koestner, R., Ratelle, C., Le´onard, M., Gagne´, M., & Marsolais, J. (2003). Les passions de l’Ame: On obsessive and harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(4), 756–767. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.4.756.
Vallerand, R. J., Salvy, S. J., Mageau, G. A., Elliot, A. J., Denis, P. L., Grouzet, F. M. E., & Blanchard, C. (2007). On the role of passion in performance. Journal of Personality, 75(3), 505–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00447.x.
Vallerand, R. J., Houlfort, N., & Forest, J. (2014). Passion for work: Determinants and outcomes. In M. Gagné (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of work engagement, motivation, and self-determination theory (pp. 85–105). Oxford University Press.
VandeWalle, D. (1997). Development and validation of a work domain goal orientation instrument. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57(6), 995–1015. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164497057006009.
Wolfe, D. M. (1988). Is there integrity in the bottom line: Managing obstacles to executive integrity. In S. Srivastva (Ed.), Executive integrity: The search for high human values in organizational life (pp. 140–171). Jossey-Bass.
Zalesny, M. D., & Ford, J. K. (1990). Extending the social information processing perspective: New links to attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 47(2), 205–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(90)90037-A.
Zhou, J., & Hoever, I. J. (2014). Research on workplace creativity: A review and redirection. Annual Reviews of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 333–359. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091226.
Zhou, J., Wang, X. M., Bavato, D., Tasselli, S., & Wu, J. (2019). Understanding the receiving side of creativity: A multidisciplinary review and implications for management research. Journal of Management, 45(6), 2570–2595. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206319827088.
Funding
This study was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation Program of Renmin University of China (No. 22XNL014).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Consent to participate
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, Z., Shen, R. The negative effect of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee creativity: The mediation of harmonious passion and moderating effect of humble leadership. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05752-9
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05752-9