(How) Can Performance Appraisals Improve Employee Creativity? A Multidimensional Perspective
基于多维度视角，研究了发展性绩效评估通过内在动机促进根本性创造力、行政性绩效评估通过外在动机促进渐进性创造力，且年龄分别增强和减弱这两种间接关系。
ABSTRACT Performance appraisal (PA) is commonly used by organizations to manage their employees. However, the role of PAs in employee creativity remains ambiguous, with positive, negative, or even nonsignificant relationships reported in the literature. The aim of the present research is to address this ambiguity. Drawing on multidimensional conceptualizations of PA and creativity, and integrating self‐determination theory and expectancy theory with selection, optimization, and compensation theory, we develop a multilevel conceptual framework incorporating diverse linkages between PAs and creativity. Time‐lagged survey data were collected from 582 research and development employees working in 49 companies. The results indicate that developmental PA is positively related to radical creativity via intrinsic motivation, with age augmenting this indirect linkage. In contrast, administrative PA is positively related to incremental creativity through extrinsic motivation, with age attenuating this indirect relationship. These findings extend the theoretical understanding of the PA–creativity relationship and offer important practical insights into the utility of PAs in managing employee creativity.