Choking under negative feedback: how daily leader negative feedback influences daily employee creativity

Abstract

Purpose Drawing upon self-regulation theory, this study aims to examine the short-term effects of daily leader negative feedback on employees’ self-regulatory states and creativity. Design/methodology/approach This study employed an experience sampling methodology. The final sample consisted of 131 participants who provided 1,663 daily observations. We conducted a multilevel path analysis using Mplus 8.7 to test our hypotheses. Findings Daily leader negative feedback triggers an immediate rise in employees’ creative performance pressure, which subsequently depletes employees’ self-regulatory resources and, in turn, diminishes their daily creativity. Chronic leader positive feedback, however, not only mitigates this positive effect of daily leader negative feedback on employees’ creative performance pressure but also weakens its indirect effect on employees’ daily creativity. Practical implications This research provides valuable insights for leaders by highlighting the self-regulatory challenges employees face in response to daily leader negative feedback. To reduce the adverse indirect effect of leader negative feedback on employee creativity, leaders are encouraged to balance daily negative feedback with long-term positive feedback. Originality/value This study contributes to the workplace feedback literature by offering a more dynamic understanding of the short-term effect of leader negative feedback on employee creativity. It also advances self-regulation theory by uncovering a novel cognitive mechanism through which negative workplace events (e.g. leader negative feedback) lead to self-regulatory resource depletion. Finally, this research contributes to the feedback literature more generally by examining the interaction between different types of feedback (positive vs. negative) across different temporal frames (chronic vs. daily).