The Relationship Between Employee Creativity,work Engagement And Unethical Behavior

Creativity is seen as the foundation for individuals,groups and organizations to pursue innovation,and is an important determinant of innovation,survival and prosperity for individuals and organizations in a highly competitive global marketplace(Zhou&Shalley,2010).However,studies have shown that,through some cognitive mechanisms,individuals with creative personality or high creative performance not only can cause positive effects to the organization,but also cause damage to the organization.Do individuals with high creative behavior have a similar "double-edged sword" effect?If so,is there any non-cognitive mechanism for the effects of creative behavior on positive and negative outcomes?The literature has not yet clarified these questions.Therefore,in order to deeply explore the positive and negative effects of creative behavior and the role of non-cognitive factors in these relationships,this study explores the impact of creative behavior on the authentic pride and hubristic pride of employees through literature analysis,questionnaire survey and statistical analysis.And based on structural equation modeling and Monte Carlo simulation,our study also analyzes the role of emotions(i.e.,authentic pride and hubristic pride)in the relationship between creative behavior,work engagement and unethical behavior.Drawing on moral self-regulation theory,and using a three-wave(three weeks apart from each other)survey data from 659 Chinese employees,we found that creative behavior is positively related to authentic pride and hubristic pride.Furthermore,we found that a positive indirect relationship between creative behavior and work engagement via authentic pride,a negative indirect relationship between creative behavior and work engagement via hubristic pride,and a positive indirect relationship between creative behavior and unethical behavior via hubristic pride.This research mainly made three contributions to the literature.First,this research first explores the intermediary mechanism of emotion,which contributes to the moral downside of creativity.Secondly,based on authentic pride and hubristic pride,this research explores the relationship between emotions and unethical behavior,which contributes to the moral emotion literature.Thirdly,this study provides a new direction for the study of creativity and emotion by exploring the impact of creative behavior on pride.