Lin, SY, Hirst, G, Wu, C-H orcid.org/0000-0002-8011-6323 et al. (3 more authors) (2023) When anything less than perfect isn’t good enough: How parental and supervisor perfectionistic expectations determine fear of failure and employee creativity. Journal of Business Research, 154. 113341. ISSN 0148-2963
Abstract
In the quest to get the best from those for whom they are responsible, some parents and managers seek or demand perfection. But do such expectations benefit the targets, in terms of their capacity for creativity? The present research examines how perfectionistic parental and supervisor expectations influence employees’ fear of failure and creativity; in particular, the authors propose that perfectionistic parental expectations promote a fear of failure, which undermines employee creativity later in life. In line with social cognitive theory, when perfectionistic supervisor expectations repeat and reinforce these early life experiences, the negative mechanism may be strengthened. Tests of the hypotheses rely on two time-lagged field studies in different cultures (214 U.S. employees, 276 supervisor–employee–parent triads from a Chinese organization) and show that the indirect effect of parents’ perfectionistic expectations on creativity, through fear of failure, is stronger when perfectionistic supervisor expectations are high. This study thus offers unique insights into how familial and work experiences can jointly affect a person’s fear of failure and further creativity at work.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 Elsevier Inc. This is an author produced version of an article published in Journal of Business Research. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Creativity, Fear of failure, Perfectionistic expectations |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) > Management Division Organizational Behaviour (LUBS) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 27 Sep 2022 13:36 |
Last Modified: | 14 Apr 2024 00:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113341 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:191282 |