Peer effects of innovative behavior: threatened or inspired?

Existing literature has highlighted the importance of innovation and much effort has been devoted to promote innovative behavior in organizations. However, the role of coworker in affecting employee innovative behavior has not been examined. Drawing on the transactional theory of stress and the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, we constructed a conceptual model to demonstrate innovative behavior’s double-edge sword peer effect. Employees appraise coworker innovative behavior as a challenge or a threat based on their own creative self-efficacy, and generate harmonious passion or job anxiety, which then relate to higher or lower levels of innovative behavior. Results from an empirical study of 310 participants in China supported our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that employees with higher creative self-efficacy are more likely to perceive coworker innovative behavior as a challenge, which stimulates their harmonious passion and is positively associated with innovative behavior. In contrast, employees with lower creative self-efficacy tend to appraise coworker innovative behavior as a threat, which induces their job anxiety and is negatively associated with innovative behavior. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.