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Novelty recognition is the crucial starting point for extracting value from the ideas generated by others. In this paper we develop an associative evaluation account for how personal and contextual factors motivate individuals to perceive novelty and creativity. We report 4 studies that systematically tested hypotheses developed from this perspective. Study 1 (a laboratory experiment) showed that perceivers' regulatory focus, as an experimentally induced state, affected novelty perception. Study 2 (a field study) found that perceivers' promotion focus and prevention focus, measured as chronic traits, each interacted with normative level of novelty and creativity: perceivers who scored higher on promotion focus perceived more novelty (or creativity) in novel (or creative) targets than those who scored lower, whereas perceivers who scored higher on prevention focus perceived less novelty (or creativity) in novel (or creative) targets than those who scored lower. Study 3 (a field study) showed that organizational culture affected the perception of novelty and creativity. Study 4 (a laboratory experiment) found perceiver-by-idea-by-context 3-way interaction effects: for perceivers with prevention focus, the positive relation between normative level of novelty and novelty ratings was weakened in the loss-framing condition versus the gain-framing condition. We discuss implications of the findings for future research and management practice. (PsycINFO Database Record

Understanding the receiving side of creativity has both scientific and practical value. Creativity can add value to organizations after it is perceived, evaluated, and eventually adopted. In this paper, we review four decades of empirical research on the receiving side of creativity scattered across several business and social science fields. A comprehensive framework surfaces out of our review, indicating four groups of factors affecting the evaluation and adoption of creativity, namely, characteristics of target, creator, perceiver, and context. Although the receiving side of creativity has received far less attention than the generative side in management literature, vibrant research efforts in other scientific fields have built a solid foundation to understand creativity receiving in the workplace. We call for more studies on this important topic and discuss how future research could contribute to its development by advancing conceptual clarity, methodological precision, and integration between theories, disciplines, and different sides of the creative process.

In order to address the influence of unethical leader behaviors in the form of abusive supervision on subordinates' retaliatory responses, we meta-analytically examined the impact of abusive supervision on subordinate deviance, inclusive of the role of justice and power distance. Specifically, we investigated the mediating role of supervisory-and organizationally focused justice and the moderating role of power distance as one model explaining why and when abusive supervision is related to subordinate deviance toward supervisors and organizations. With 79 independent sample studies (N = 22,021), we found that abusive supervision was more strongly related to supervisory-focused justice, compared to organizationally focused justice perceptions, and both types of justice perceptions were related to target-similar deviance (deviance toward the supervisor and organization, respectively). Finally, our results showed that the negative implications of abusive supervision were stronger in lower power distance cultures compared to higher power distance cultures.

One distinguishing feature of servant leadership is the proposition that servant leaders develop followers who also engage in serving behaviors. Drawing upon social learning theory, we argue that follower dispositional self-interest is a boundary condition affecting the transference of manager servant leadership to follower engagement in serving behaviors, and that follower serving self-efficacy is the underlying psychological mechanism. In a laboratory experiment (Study 1), we manipulated manager servant leadership and found support for the hypothesis that the positive relationship between manager servant leadership and follower serving behaviors is significantly enhanced for participants high in self-interest. The serving behaviors of participants low in self-interest was not affected by the degree to which the manager practiced servant leadership. In a field study (Study 2) with a sample representing 10 diverse organizations in Singapore, we replicated the findings. In another laboratory experiment (Study 3), we demonstrated that follower serving self-efficacy mediated the interactional effect found in the first two studies, supporting the social learning account for the transference of manager servant leadership to follower serving behaviors. Taken together, converging results from these three studies demonstrate that servant leaders are capable of bringing out serving behaviors especially among followers with a strong focus on their own self-interest.