Under the Gaze: How and When Being Observed Facilitates Innovative Behavior

Drawing on social facilitation theory and regulatory focus theory, we propose and test a moderated mediation model in which being observed promotes employees’ innovative behavior through willingness to share knowledge, with regulatory focus serving as a key boundary condition. We tested the model in two complementary studies: a field experiment (N = 223) and a two-wave survey (N = 103). Across both studies, being observed was positively related to willingness to share knowledge, which in turn predicted innovative behavior. In the survey study, prevention focus (an individual’s orientation toward fulfilling duties, responsibilities, and avoiding negative outcomes) strengthened the positive effect of being observed on willingness to share knowledge and magnified the resulting indirect effect on innovative behavior. By contrast, promotion focus (an individual’s orientation toward pursuing aspirations, personal growth, and attaining positive outcomes) attenuated the link between being observed and willingness to share knowledge, although the conditional indirect effect did not reach significance. These findings contribute to the social facilitation literature by specifying the knowledge sharing mechanism and the regulatory-focus boundary conditions through which social attention translates into innovative behavior in organizational field settings.