The Effects of Abusive Supervision and Motivational Preference on Employees’ Innovative Behavior

Abstract

Individual innovative behavior has an important relationship with the sustainable development of an organization. Thus, mostly drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examined the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ innovative behavior, focusing on the mediating role of creative self-efficacy and the moderating role of motivational preference. In an analysis of time-lagged data from three technological, innovation-based enterprises in Shenzhen, this study found that abusive supervision was negatively related to employees’ innovative behavior and that this relationship was mediated by creative self-efficacy. Moreover, motivational preference was found to moderate this relationship as well as that between abusive supervision and creative self-efficacy. Employees with higher levels of motivational preference (i.e., intrinsic motivational preference weighs more than extrinsic motivational preference) are more vulnerable to abusive supervision, causing lower creative self-efficacy performance and less innovative behavior. Alternately, employees with lower levels of motivational preference (i.e., extrinsic motivational preference weighs more than intrinsic motivational preference) are less vulnerable to abusive supervision, thus resulting in a weaker negative relationship between abusive supervision and their creative self-efficacy and innovative behavior.