A Quasi-Field Experiment Examining the Conflicting Links between Positive Feedback and Creativity

Abstract

This research proposes a dual-pathway model for positive feedback and creativity as a comprehensive theoretical framework to understand inconsistent theories and empirical findings in the literature. Past research has produced mixed evidence regarding the relationship between positive feedback and recipient creativity. The dual-pathway model organizes these inconsistencies under two pathways: the creativity complacency pathway and the perceived leader support pathway. In addition, this study builds on the dual-pathway model to examine whether and how a leader’s positive feedback benefits employee creativity, particularly in a time of crisis. With a sample of 158 leader-employee dyads, this study found that positive feedback was related to employee creativity via two opposite pathways. On the one hand, positive feedback was negatively related to employee creativity via the increased level of creativity complacency. On the other hand, it was positively related to employee creativity via the increased level of perceived leader support. These two pathways negated each other, making the whole relationship nonsignificant. Finally, this study found that during a time of crisis (COVID-19), positive feedback significantly improved employee creativity because the crisis strengthened the perceived leader support pathway but weakened the creativity complacency pathway.