Revisiting the Praise Paradox: An Action-Control Perspective on Negative Affect and Idea Generation

Building on personality-systems-interactions (PSI) theory, we analyze how individuals’ action control influences the originality of the ideas they generate when experiencing negative affect. We use a pre-test/post-test experimental design with 328 participants that captures dynamic effects between negative affect and idea generation. The patterns we identify provide a detailed understanding of how individuals’ action control determines the kind of feedback needed to increase originality. Thereby, we provide important new insights for research on the generation of original ideas that are necessary for entrepreneurs and organizations that aim to generate novelty and differentiate themselves from others.