The existing empirical evidence on the relationship between time pressure and innovative behavior is paradoxical. An intriguing yet unresolved question is “When does time pressure promote or prohibit innovative behavior, and how?” We theorize that the paradoxical effect of time pressure on innovative behavior can be elucidated by the moderating role of stress mindset, and we also explore the mediating role of thriving at work. Our research involved a field study of 390 research and development personnel from eight enterprises and research institutes in China to test our proposed model. Results indicated that the stress-is-debilitating mindset negatively moderated the association between time pressure and thriving at work, while the stress-is-enhancing mindset positively moderated the link between time pressure and thriving at work. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that the stress-is-debilitating mindset negatively moderated the indirect impact of time pressure on employees’ innovative behavior through thriving at work, while the stress-is-enhancing mindset positively moderated the indirect effect of time pressure on employees’ innovative behavior through thriving at work. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

Previous research has suggested that a fixed creative mindset is detrimental to creativity. Drawing on social learning theory, we propose an alternative perspective, positing that the relationship between a fixed creative mindset and creativity depends on the motivational climate, which may reverse its negative effect. We investigated this relationship by examining the boundary conditions of two distinct motivational climates and the mediating effects of knowledge hiding. Our research involved an online survey, with data collected from 426 research and development personnel across nine enterprises and research institutes in China to analyze the proposed model. The results showed that when the performance climate was high, the fixed creative mindset was positively related to knowledge hiding, which in turn negatively affected creativity. In contrast, in a high-mastery climate, a fixed creative mindset was negatively correlated with knowledge hiding, which subsequently facilitated creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.