AUTHOR=Wang Qing , Zhang Xiaoli , Zhang Na , Su Jiafu 

TITLE=Error management climate, psychological security, and employee bootleg innovation behavior: the moderating role of risk-taking traits

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1538584

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1538584

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Employee bootleg innovation behavior is the key to helping enterprises get rid of the “innovator’s dilemma” and achieve innovative development. This article constructed a model of the relationship between error management climate, psychological security, risk-taking traits, and employees’ bootleg innovation behaviors based on social cognitive theory and tested the model empirically. The results show that error management climate has a significant positive influence on employees’ bootleg innovation behavior; psychological security plays a mediating role between error management climate and bootleg innovation behavior; and risk-taking traits play a moderating role in the relationship between psychological security and employees’ bootleg innovation behavior. The results of the study provide valuable insights for guiding employees’ bootleg innovation behaviors and help organizations in effectively managing these behaviors, thus enhancing organizational innovation performance.