The Moderated-Mediation Effect of Workplace Anxiety and Regulatory Focus in the Relationship between Work-Related Identity Discrepancy and Employee Innovation

Chang-E Liu, Chenhong Hu, Wei Xie, Tingting Liu and Wei He
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Chang-E Liu: Mobile E-business Collaborative Innovation Center of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Mobile Business Intelligence, College of Business Administration, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China
Chenhong Hu: College of Business Administration, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China
Wei Xie: College of Business Administration, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China
Tingting Liu: College of Business Administration, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China
Wei He: Scott College of Business, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-12

Abstract: Extant research on work-related identity discrepancy mostly has probed its effects on employees’ attitudes and emotions but has paid little attention to its impact on employee behaviors. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory, we examined the influencing mechanism and conditions of work-related identity discrepancy on employee innovation behavior. With data collected from 563 employees who personally experienced leadership transition in the workplace, we found that work-related identity discrepancy predicts employee innovation behavior through workplace anxiety. We also discovered that employees’ personality traits—promotion regulatory focus and prevention regulatory focus in particular—can intensify or buffer the negative relationship between work-related identity discrepancy and employee innovation behavior. We further discuss the conceptual and practical implications of these findings.

Keywords: work-related identity discrepancy; employee innovation behavior; workplace anxiety; regulatory focus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6121-:d:402771

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