Creative Deviance:Structure And Influence On Employee Innovation Performance

General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the Tianjin Zhongguancun Science Park in 2019 and stressed that "let every person with innovative dream be able to focus on innovation,and let every innovation energy fully burst out",under the background of innovation driven strategy,encouraging employees’ innovation has become the most popular way to develop and gain advantages(Jia Junsheng,2020).However,in the actual management process,the efforts of the organization in encouraging the generation of employees’ ideas are not consistent with the efforts in promoting the implementation of employees’ ideas(Augsdorfer,1994).Limited by relatively lagging systems,rigid hierarchies and organizational resources(Lin,Mainemelis & Kark,2016),only a small number of employees’ innovative ideas will be formally adopted.For those innovative ideas that cannot be approved or even denied,there are still quite a few individuals who practice in deviant ways(Wang Hongyu,Wan Pengyu and Zhang Zhenduo,2020),such behaviour that employees believe their ideas will bring expected benefits to the organization or its members,and actively violate the important norms of organization,is called creative deviance(Augsdorfer 2012;Huang Wei et al.,2017;Wang Hongyu,Wan Pengyu and Zhang Zhenduo 2020).In recent years,creative deviance occurs frequently in organizations(Augsdorfer,2012),with the dual complex attributes of "reasonable purpose" and "violation of means ",creative deviance has attracted wide attention and research from scholars :(1)The structure and measurement of creative deviance.Criscuolo’s team and Lin’s team developed a single-dimensional creative deviance scale,Zou Chunlong(2020)combined them and then revised the two-dimensional structure scale based on the process perspective;(2)The formation mechanism of creative deviance.The formation mechanism of creative deviance has been widely discussed,and a systematic research system has been formed;(3)The impact results of creative deviance.The impact results research is relatively weak.The most basic question that needs to be answered to explore the impact is that creative deviance promotes or inhibitions employee innovation performance? However,there is considerable controversy,and the empirical results are inconsistent.Although some progress has been made in the research on creative deviance,there are still the following shortcomings:(1)Failure to develop effective measurement tools for creative deviance based on organizational norms perspective.More and more scholars point out that there are major defects in the structure and measurement of creative deviance:(1)Confusing creative deviance and anti-order innovation behavior(Chen Chao,Liu Xinmei and Duan Chenggang,2020;Wu Yingxuan et al.,2018).Most studies equate whether innovation behavior is deviant with whether innovation behavior directly or potentially violates leadership orders.Most studies regard whether the innovation behavior deviates from the norm equal to whether the innovation behavior is direct or potential violation of leadership orders.The innovation behavior that violates the leader’s order publicly or privately is called creative deviance(Zou Chunlong 2020).This operation obviously misinterprets the connotation of "deviance" and interprets out of context,which also narrow the category of creative deviance(Wu Yingxuan et al.,2018);(2)The existing scale of creative deviance lacks proper theoretical basis.Criscuolo’s team and Lin team’s developed scale without theoretical support,Zou Chunlong(2020)combines the existing scale based on innovation process theory,but the process-based division method adapts to a wide range of behaviours(all forms of innovation behavior and even change behavior,voice are processes),which not grasp the core characteristics of creative deviance different from the overall category of innovation behavior.It can not analyze the unique connotation and structure of creative deviance.(2)The inconsistency relationship between creative deviance and employee innovation performance has not been resolved.The first question to be answered to explore the effect of creative deviance is whether creative deviance improves employees’ innovation performance? Unfortunately,the issue is controversial and there are three different conclusions,defects and inconsistencies in measuring tools add to the controversy:(1)Creative deviance promote employee innovation performance(Criscuolo,Salter & Wal,2014,2014;Wang Hongyu and Wan Pengyu,2020);(2)Creative deviance generally promotes employee innovation performance,but sometimes it inhibits innovation performance(Huang Wei et al.,2017);(3)Only when employees and leaders have some conditions at the same time can creative deviance promote employee innovation performance,and any lack of conditions leads to creative deviance can not significantly affect employee innovation performance(Zhao Bin,Gu Rui and Li Yao,2019).Only by thoroughly understanding the inconsistent relationship between creative deviance and employee innovation performance can we build a foundation for exploring the influence of creative deviance on team and organization,so that the impact results research of creative deviance on other levels will not become a "castle in the air ".(3)The situational boundary of creative deviance’s differentiated impact on innovation performance is ignored.Previous studies have tried to solve the problem of inconsistent relationship between creative deviance and innovation performance from the perspective of status and innovation self-efficacy(Huang Wei et al.,2017;Wang Hongyu and Wan Pengyu,2020),but there are still the following shortcomings:(1)The defects and inconsistencies in the measurement of creative deviance lead to differences in research results and controversy.Huang Wei et al.(2017)used the scale from the perspective of bootleg innovation,while Zhao Bin,Gu Rui and Li Yao(2019)used the scale from the perspective of resistance innovation.Both of these two measurement tools are deficient in connotation and dimension;(2)The selection of situational factors is fragmented,and the selection of regulatory variables lacks the overall selection and exploration based on theoretical system;(3)The selection of situational factors lacks pertinence,it is difficult to distinguish the situation in which creative deviance "enabling" or "burdening ".(4)The double-edged sword process of creative deviance’s differentiated impact on innovation performance is ignored.Previous studies only focus on the direct effect of creative deviance on employee innovation performance,but seldom pay attention to the mechanism from the micro perspective,and lack of dialectical and integrated perspective to discuss the double-edged sword mechanism of "resource gain and resource loss" of creative deviance on employee innovation performance(Duan Jinyun,Yang Jing and Zhu Yuelong,2020;Halbesleben,Harvey and Bolino,2009).As a constructive but risky innovation behavior,What internal "revenue" mechanisms promote innovation performance? What internal "cost" mechanisms hinder innovation performance? What is the boundary of the double-edged sword mechanisms? All these questions are not clear.In view of the above research deficiencies,this study constructed three sub-studies to solve the problems.Sub-study 1 traces the basis of dimension division of deviant schools of thought at home and abroad,selects organizational norm theory,explores the connotation and structure of creative deviance through personal interviews(20 employees),focus group interviews(8 groups),exploratory factor analysis(N=311)and confirmatory factor analysis(N=325),and develops measuring tools for employee creative deviance(sub-study 1).In view of the inconsistent relationship between creative deviance and innovation performance,this study constructs two substudys based on person-environment fit theory and resource preservation theory.Sub-study 2 based on person-environment fit theory,with two-stage data from 219 employees,it explores the situational boundary of creative deviance’s differentiated impact on innovation performance from a macro perspective,examines the regulatory role of organizational innovation climate,leader contingent reward and leader tolerance,and reveals when creative deviance positively affects innovation performance and when negatively or cannot affects innovation performance(sub-study 2).Sub-study 3 based on resource preservation theory,with two-stage data from 399 employees,it reveals the the double-edged sword process of creative deviance’s differentiated impact on innovation performance from a micro perspective,reveals the resource gain path of creative deviance by promoting resource integration to enhance innovation performance and the regulating effect of personal reputation on this path,and also reveals the resource impairment path of creative deviance through self-loss to inhibit innovation performance and the moderating effect of psychological resilience on this path(sub-study 3).Through three sub-studies,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Creative deviance is a connotation structure of second-order three-factor construct,and organizational creative deviance is a new dimension not covered by the existing scales;(2)Creative deviance is an important antecedent variable of employee innovation performance;(3)Organizational innovation climate regulates the relationship between creative deviance and employee innovation performance.Creative deviance has a significant positive impact on employee innovation performance in high organizational innovation climate,while it has no significant impact in low organizational innovation climate;(4)Leader contingent reward regulates the relationship between creative deviance and employee innovation performance.Creative deviance has a significant positive impact on employee innovation performance in high leader contingent reward,while it has significant negative impact in low leader contingent reward;(5)Leader tolerance regulates the relationship between creative deviance and employee innovation performance.Creative deviance has a significant positive impact on employee innovation performance in high leader tolerance,while it has significant negative impact in low leader tolerance;(6)Creative deviance enhances innovation performance by promoting resource integration,and personal reputation enhances this resource gain path.The study founds that the positive intermediary effect of resource integration between creative deviance and innovation performance becomes stronger with the improvement of personal reputation.Under the high personal reputation level,the intermediary effect of resource integration is the greatest;(7)Creative deviance inhibits innovation performance by causing ego depletion,and psychological resilience weakens this resource impairment path.It is founds that the negative mediating effect of ego depletion between creative deviance and innovation performance becomes weaker with the improvement of psychological resilience,and the mediating effect of ego depletion is the weakest and not significant at high psychological resilience level.The academic contributions are as follows:(1)Defines the connotation and structure of creative deviance and enriches the application range of organizational norm theory;(2)Discovers new dimension of organizational creative deviance and increases the integrity and scientific nature of creative deviance measurement;(3)Reveals the boundary effect of organizational innovation climate on creative deviance and promotes the application and development of person-organization fit theory;(4)Reveals the boundary effect of leader contingent reward and leader tolerance on distinguishing when creative deviance significantly positive and negative affect employee innovation performance,it also promotes the application and development of person-superior fit theory;(5)Reveals the resource gain mechanism and boundary of creative deviance,enriches the research of resource conservation theory from the perspective of resource integration and personal reputation;(6)Reveals the resource impairment mechanism and boundary of creative deviance,enricures the research of resource conservation theory from the perspective of ego depletion and psychological resilience.The management implications are as follows:(1)It is helpful for enterprises to identify employees’ creative deviance,manage employees and perfect organizational norms in a better way;(2)It is helpful for enterprises to strengthen organizational innovation climate and promote innovation performance transformation of creative deviance;(3)It is helpful for enterprises to strengthen leader contingent reward and leader tolerance construction and promote innovation performance transformation of creative deviance;(4)It is helpful for employees to complete resource integration and gain performance with the help of creative deviance,and to strengthen the "revenue" of creative deviance with personal reputation;(5)It is helpful for employees to reduce ego depletion and performance impairment caused by creative deviance,and use psychological resilience to block the "cost" of creative deviance.