Idiosyncratic deals and creative deviance: the mediating role of psychological entitlement

Idiosyncratic deals ('i-deals', which include customized work arrangements and resources) have been found to motivate R&D employees. However, less effort has been devoted to exploring the uncertain consequences of receiving i-deals at work, such as violation of leaders' orders to stop working on certain new ideas (creative deviance). Drawing on the uniqueness theory, we hypothesize that receiving i-deals indirectly relates to the creative deviance of R&D employee through psychological entitlement. Furthermore, we propose that an R&D employee's conformity value weakens this indirect relationship. Using a multisource time-lagged survey study (Study 1) and an experimental scenario study (Study 2), we found consistent evidence that psychological entitlement mediates the indirect relationship between i-deals and employee creative deviance, and this relationship is contingent on the conformity value of the employee. Our research provides new insights for both scholars and practitioners in R&D management to understand the possible consequences of using i-deals to motivate R&D employees.