Why and When Supervisor Developmental Feedback Impact Innovative Behavior: Perspective of Self-Regulation Theory

In this study, we examined how supervisor developmental feedback influences employees’ innovative behavior. A multi-time survey method was used in this study to collect data from 310 employees in Chinese enterprises. The research results show that supervisor developmental feedback has positive effects on employee innovative behavior via the mediating effect of self-goal-setting. We further found that uncertainty avoidance strengthens the positive relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and the self-goal-setting of employees. Our study offers a new account based on self-regulation perspective for understanding feedback.