Does achievement need drive performance or withdrawal? It depends on the severity of setbacks

Prevailing research perspectives have treated achievement need as uniformly beneficial, yet high achievers often disengage when faced with persistent adversity. Integrating achievement motivation theory with social cognitive theory, we proposed that achievement need would enhance employees’ creative self-efficacy and subsequently promote innovative performance in the context of low innovation setbacks, while undermining self-efficacy and leading to work withdrawal in the context of high innovation setbacks. Thus, the dual effects of achievement need depend on the level of innovation setbacks, which serves as a key boundary condition. We conducted a multiwave survey of 280 employee–supervisor dyads. The results showed that innovation setbacks moderated the relationship between achievement need and creative self-efficacy, and also moderated the indirect effect of achievement need on innovation performance and work withdrawal behaviors through creative self-efficacy. This highlights the central role of innovation setbacks in shaping behavioral outcomes among employees with otherwise positive traits.