How leader bottom-line mentality impedes employee innovative behavior: a Pygmalion effect perspective

Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leader bottom-line mentality (BLM) and employee innovative behavior, which may be interpreted by employees’ perceived creativity expectations and moderated by employee time orientation.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-wave and multi-source questionnaire survey with 259 paired Chinese employee–leader dyads provided data to test the theoretical model. Hypotheses were tested with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Findings

Consistent with hypotheses, leader BLM reduces employees’ perceived creativity expectations and thus inhibits employees’ innovative behavior, and this effect is stronger for employees with short-term orientation.

Practical implications

Our findings highlight the negative influences of leader BLM on innovative behavior and the buffering role of employees’ long-term orientation. Organizations may incorporate BLM in leadership promotion and evaluation and provide corresponding training for leaders to overcome BLM. In addition, long-term orientation can be a valuable indicator in employee recruitment and selection.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a new theoretical perspective of the Pygmalion effects for understanding leader BLM’s influence on employee innovative behavior.

Citation

Wang, T., Yu, B., Liu, M. and Zhou, Y. (2024), "How leader bottom-line mentality impedes employee innovative behavior: a Pygmalion effect perspective", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2024-0167