The feedback-seeking behavior and individual creativity in team contexts

From the dual-motive (instrumental vs. image-based motive) perspective, we theorized and tested the contextual factor for feedback-seeking behavior from supervisor and employee creativity, and the boundary conditions for the relations. With 254 employees from 48 teams in Korean firms, we found that team learning goal was positively related to feedback-seeking behavior, and in turn creativity. Also, we found that the positive relation appears when employees had a low level of face saving and that the positive relation between feedback-seeking behavior and creativity became weaker when employees had a high level of recognition for learning. These findings support the dual-motive perspective. In particular, when feedback-seeking behavior seemed to come from the image-based motive (when employees had high levels of face saving and recognition for learning), the positive relationships among team learning goal, feedback-seeking behavior and creativity became weaker. We discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications.