Roy B. L. Sijbom

How to get radical creative ideas into a leader's mind? Leader's achievement goals and subordinates' voice of creative ideas

In the present research we investigated when and why leaders tend to oppose or adopt radical creative ideas voiced by their subordinates. In a field study (Study 1, N = 127) we showed that leaders’ performance goals were positively related to their tendency to oppose radical creative ideas, whereas leaders’ mastery goals were positively related to their tendency to adopt them. We replicated these findings in an experimental study (Study 2, N = 90), in which we showed that performance goal leaders were more likely to oppose radical creative ideas voiced by their subordinates than mastery goal leaders, whereas mastery goal leaders were more likely to adopt those ideas than performance goal leaders. In Study 2, we further showed that the effects of leaders’ achievement goals on their oppose and adopt responses were mediated by the leaders’ interest in exploration. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 91), we experimentally demonstrated that oppose and adopt responses of performance goal leaders, rather than mastery goal leaders, were sensitive to the behavioural mode by which subordinates voiced their radical creative ideas. That is, performance goal leaders were less likely to oppose and more likely to adopt radical creative ideas when subordinates voiced them in a considerate mode rather than an aggressive mode.

Leaders’ receptivity to subordinates’ creative input: The role of achievement goals and composition of creative input

We identified leaders’ achievement goals and composition of creative input as important factors that can clarify when and why leaders are receptive to, and supportive of, subordinates’ creative input. As hypothesized, in two experimental studies, we found that relative to mastery goal leaders, performance goal leaders were less receptive to subordinates’ voiced creative input. In Study 1, we further showed that image threat appraisal and learning opportunity appraisal mediated this effect. In Study 2, we demonstrated that when merely creative ideas were expressed by the subordinate, performance goal leaders responded like mastery goal leaders. However, as in Study 1, performance goal leaders were less receptive to, and less supportive of, subordinates’ creative input than mastery goal leaders when the composition of subordinates’ creative input included both problem identifications and creative ideas.

Leaders’ achievement goals predict employee burnout above and beyond employees’ own achievement goals

Abstract Objective Burnout has primarily been examined from an individuals perspective without taking the broader environmental context into account. The authors applied an integrative, multilevel perspective and investigated the influence of leaders’ motivational strivings on employee burnout. In two multisource studies, we investigated relationships between leaders’ achievement goals and employee burnout while controlling for employees’ own achievement goals. Method Study 1 consisted of 362 members and 72 leaders of the corresponding working groups. Study 2 consisted of 177 employees and 46 leaders of the corresponding working groups, and measurements were spaced apart in time. We also ran a model including the data of both Study 1 and Study 2. Results Multilevel analyses indicated that leaders’ mastery‐approach goals were negatively related to employee burnout above and beyond employees’ own achievement goals. Leaders’ performance‐approach goals were positively related to employee burnout in Study 1 and in the overall analysis combining Study 1 and Study 2. Conclusions We advance our understanding of the motivational etiology of burnout by examining the top‐down effects of leaders’ achievement goals on employee burnout over and above employees’ own achievement goals. In order to reduce burnout, organizations should take leaders’ achievement goals into account as an important contextual factor.

Leaders' management of creative ideas

In the present research, we examined the joint impact of leaders’ achievement goals and position power on their integrative management of creative ideas delivered either by a subordinate or a superior. In a field study (N = 149), we found that leaders’ mastery goals, but not their performance goals, were positively related to the intention to integrate creative ideas voiced by subordinates with their own ideas. When superiors delivered the creative ideas, however, both mastery goals and performance goals were positively related to integrative idea management. Similarly, in an experimental study (N = 94), we found that relative to mastery goal leaders and low-power performance goal leaders, high-power performance goal leaders reported lower intentions and were less likely to actually integrate creative ideas with their own ideas.