An Examination of the Curvilinear Relationship of Organizational Identification on Innovative Behavior and the Moderating Effect of Creative Self-Efficacy

Purpose - This study investigates a curvilinear effect of organizational identification on innovative behavior, proposing a potential ‘too-much-of-a-good-thing’ (TMGT) effect. While extant literature on organizational identification has primarily examined the positive outcomes, there has been some tension among recent studies reporting negative effects, suggesting the possibility of a curvilinear effect. Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we hypothesize that moderate level of organizational identification has positive effect on innovative behavior, but when the identification become excessive, the positive effect turns into negative, proposing an inverted U-shaped curvilinear effect. In addition, current study hypothesize creative self-efficacy will moderate the curvilinear relationship, as a psychological attribute that neutralizes the negative effect of excessive identification. A survey method was applied to gather data sample. Findings - A total of 208 employee data gathered from 67 organizations was analyzed, and we found that organizational identification has an inverted U-shaped effect on innovative behavior. However, the moderating effect of creative self-efficacy on those nonlinear relationship was not significant. Research implications or Originality - The relationship between organizational identification and innovative behavior was confirmed to be an inverted U. This finding suggests that when organizational identification is excessive, the ‘TMGT (too much of a good thing)’ effect restricts innovative behavior.