TY - JOUR
T1 - When anything less than perfect isn't good enough
T2 - How parental and supervisor perfectionistic expectations determine fear of failure and employee creativity
AU - Lin, Shen Yang
AU - Hirst, Giles
AU - Wu, Chia Huei
AU - Lee, Cynthia
AU - Wu, Wen
AU - Chang, Chia Chi
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was funded by D'Amore-McKim School of Business Northeastern University, College of Business and Economics Australian National University, and IBSS Development Fund IBSSDF-0122-43 International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University.
Funding Information:
The research was funded by D’Amore-McKim School of Business Northeastern University, College of Business and Economics Australian National University, and IBSS Development Fund IBSSDF-0122-43 International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Creativity
KW - Fear of failure
KW - Perfectionistic expectations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139858128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113341
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113341
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85139858128
SN - 0148-2963
VL - 154
JO - Journal of Business Research
JF - Journal of Business Research
M1 - 113341
ER -