When Change Feels Urgent: How Performance Pressure Drives Employees to Champion New Ideas

What is it about?

This study explores how change-oriented leadership—leaders who advocate for major organizational changes—encourages employees to champion innovative ideas, and under what conditions this happens. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and motivational perspectives, the authors propose that when leaders promote change, employees may feel performance pressure, which motivates them to support new and creative initiatives aimed at improving organizational outcomes. Using three-wave, multi-rater survey data from employees and supervisors across multiple industries in Pakistan, the study finds that performance pressure beliefs link change-oriented leadership to idea championing. Leaders who push for improvement create urgency that motivates employees to advocate innovative solutions. This effect is stronger when employees view their organization as underperforming, seeing innovation as both essential and meaningful for recovery and growth. For organizations, these findings emphasize the importance of balancing change demands with psychological support. While performance pressure can stimulate innovation, leaders must ensure that it does not turn into excessive stress. Encouraging transparent communication about performance challenges and giving employees ownership over solutions can help channel this pressure into constructive, idea-driven action.

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Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is unique in identifying performance pressure beliefs as the motivational mechanism linking change-oriented leadership to idea championing, and in showing that this relationship strengthens when employees perceive organizational underperformance. It contributes to leadership and management research by revealing how performance-related perceptions convert leader influence into employee-driven change efforts. Conducted in Pakistan, a setting characterized by competitive markets and growing organizational transformation demands, this study is timely in illustrating how leaders can strategically channel performance urgency into innovation. It highlights that organizations can thrive when leaders inspire employees not just to meet expectations but to actively shape the path toward improvement through innovative action.