A Review of Multilevel Regulatory Focus in Organizations

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, regulatory focus has gained prominence as a theory of self-regulatory motivation. Building from personality and social psychology research, the nomological network of regulatory focus spans individuals, groups, and organizations. This review provides an appraisal of regulatory focus from a multilevel perspective as it relates to organizational behavior, human resources, strategic management, and entrepreneurship. We begin with a discussion of the theoretical foundations of regulatory focus, including hierarchical motivation and regulatory fit theory. Using these foundations, we summarize empirical research on regulatory focus and provide actionable avenues for future research on regulatory focus, with particular attention paid to how individuals adjust their motivational strategies on the basis of context. We also consider regulatory focus as a collective function of teams to develop our understanding of motivational processes in the workplace.When I'm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say "wow, that was an adventure," not "wow, I sure felt safe." -Tom Preston-Werner, Github Cofounder (2008)

Serving differently: CEO regulatory focus and firm stakeholder strategy

“…Indeed, at the most basic level, this obligation to shareholders is likely to be the primary goal of CEOs high in prevention focus (Kammerlander et al, ). Further, the sense of duty associated with prevention focus is likely to be accompanied by a desire for high levels of accountability (Johnson, Smith, Wallace, Hill, & Baron, ). As such, CEO prevention focus relates to an emphasis on agency‐prescribed governance‐oriented initiatives because these coincide with their desires to clearly and visibly display accountability to shareholders.…”

“…Additionally, people high in prevention focus have a tendency to worry about “what might happen” and, as such, work to prepare for the worst with an emphasis on preventing mistakes (Halvorson & Higgins, ; Johnson et al, ). One way for CEOs to protect against mistakes is by ensuring that the board is equipped to monitor their activities and provide advice (Sonnenfeld, Kusin, and Walton, ).…”

Individual differences as antecedents of leader behavior: Towards an understanding of multi-level outcomes

“…According to regulatory focus theory, avoiding pain (prevention focus) and approaching pleasure (promotion focus) are two fundamentally distinct self-regulatory orientations (Johnson, Smith, Wallace, Hill, & Baron, 2015;Stam, van Knippenberg, & Wisse, 2010a).…”

Does shared group identification lead to group creativity? Group regulatory focus as a moderator

“…Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) suggests that in pursuing their desired end-state, people regulate themselves with two distinct orientations: promotion focus and prevention focus. Research shows that members in a group perceive the regulatory focus of other members through various member interactions; over time, their regulatory orientations converge, thus developing a shared regulatory focus of the group (Faddegon, Ellemers, & Scheepers, 2009;Florack & Hartmann, 2007;Johnson, Smit, Wallace, Hill, & Baron, 2015;Levine et al, 2000). This form of collective regulatory focus represents the process by which the group context regulates member behaviors in alignment with a shared understanding of the group norms underlying the group's goal-striving processes.…”