A Great Many Things to Do and Not a Minute to Spare: Can Feedback From Supervisors Moderate the Relationship Between Skill Variety, Time Pressure, and Employees' Innovative Behavior?

Abstract

Workplace changes necessitate employees' innovative behavior. Developing and implementing new ideas can be enhanced by focusing on situational characteristics and adjusting them to improve employees' working conditions. To date, mostly interactions between situational and personal characteristics on innovative behavior have been researched. This study focused explicitly on the interaction between 3 situational characteristics: time pressure, skill variety, and feedback from supervisors. A questionnaire study was administered to 81 employees (age range 40–64 years) from different organizations. Results indicated direct positive correlations between time pressure and skill variety with idea generation and implementation. Feedback from supervisors moderated the positive relationships while controlling for effects of creative thinking abilities. Implications are explored.

This study was funded by the German Research Foundation and part of the priority program “age differentiated working systems.” The study, conducted at the University of Heidelberg, Germany is named “The importance of work design and human resource development for older employees' innovative and adaptive ability.”

Notes

Note. N = 81. Cronbach's α are shown in parentheses on the diagonal. CTTS = Creative Thinking Test Score.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01.

Note. N = 81. CTTS = Creative Thinking Test Score.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. N = 81. CTTS = Creative Thinking Test Score.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. N = 81. CTTS = Creative Thinking Test Score.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. CTTS = Creative Thinking Test Score.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. ∗∗∗p < .001.