Unconstructive curiosity killed the cat: The importance of follower political skill and constructive curiosity to avoid leader perceptions of insubordination and unlikability

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2023-09, Vol.178, p.104275, Article 104275
• Main Authors: Thompson, Phillip S., Bolino, Mark C., Norris, Kalan R., Kuo, Shu-Tsen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dark side of workplace curiosity; Implicit followership theories; Insubordination; Likability; Political skill; Unintended consequences of curiosity; Workplace curiosity
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2023.104275

•Curious workers can sometimes be viewed as insubordinate and unlikable by their manager.•Curious employees who are also politically skilled tend to avoid this perceptual pitfall.•Managers may have these negative perceptions when worker curiosity is unconstructive.•Managers and employees alike share responsibility for curiosity to be viewed as well-intentioned.•Managers should not confuse employee curiosity for insubordination.•Employees should ask questions that “move the needle” toward a solution. The popular business press has portrayed workplace curiosity – defined as the pursuit of information, knowledge, or learning in the workplace – as the most valuable quality employees can possess. Most research examining workplace curiosity has found that it is positively related to desirable employee outcomes; however, little is known about the potential dark side of this well-intentioned, yet risky, workplace behavior. Further, past research suggests that well-intentioned risky follower acts can lead to unintended negative leader perceptions. In this paper, we theorize that the relationship between follower curiosity and leader ratings of follower likability is mediated by leader perceptions of follower insubordination, and that this mediated relationship is moderated by follower political skill, such that the indirect effect of follower curiosity on follower likability via perceptions of follower insubordination is stronger for followers with lower (rather than higher) political skill. In Study 1, using data from three samples of leader–follower dyads collected at three time points, we find support for our theoretical model. In Study 2, using experimental vignette methodology, we not only find that follower curiosity and political skill interact to predict lower levels of leader perceptions of follower insubordination, but also that the curiosity of politically skilled followers is perceived as more constructive than the curiosity of followers who are less politically skilled. In Study 3, also using experimental vignette methodology, we find that leaders rate curious followers as more insubordinate and less likable when they engage in unconstructive curiosity. Together these three studies suggest that political skill enables followers to be curious without being perceived as insubordinate, that follower curiosity is less risky when it is constructive, and that curious followers who ask the right questions are less likely to be considered insubordinate or unli