Interactive Effects of Receiver Power and Generator Status on Endorsement of Creative Ideas

Abstract

Few studies have focused on how power influences an idea receiver's endorsement of creative ideas. By integrating associative evaluation theory with insights from the power literature, we identify power as an important receivers’ factor that accentuates the relation between an idea's creativity level and receivers’ endorsement. We contend that the idea generator's status is a boundary condition and, together with creativity level, the idea generator's status jointly influences the degree to which idea receivers’ power affects idea endorsement. We conducted four studies to test our hypotheses. Study 1 was a laboratory experiment. It found a two-way interaction of receiver power and creativity level, showing that compared to low-power receivers, high-power receivers expressed stronger endorsement of ideas with high levels of creativity. Study 2 was a field study in a manufacturing company. It replicated Study 1's findings and further found a three-way interaction showing that the moderating effect of receiver power was strengthened when the generator had higher rather than lower status. Studies 3 and 4 respectively replicated the two-way and three-way interactions using experiments and demonstrated positive associations as the theorized mediator, providing empirical support for the positive association account. We discuss implications of these studies and call for future research to deepen our understanding of how creative ideas are endorsed in the workplace.