Research Summary
Research Summary
Contentment with Professor Roy Chua
Description
Middle-Way is one of the core principles of Buddhism-it promotes a moderate lifestyle that is self-sufficient and void of excesses or extremes in any life domains. People with this type of lifestyle live a "content" life. However, could life contentment in any way harm work performance? By using archival and survey data from a technological Thai company in Thailand, where the Middle-Way concept is widespread, content lives ubiquitous, and creative performance sought after, we aim to answer this very question and seek a potential remedy. In specific, we argue that life contentment could harm employees' creative performance by diluting the promotion-focus motivation that is needed for creativity, yet transformational leadership-leadership style that inspires employees to do more than expected of them (Bass, 1985)-could potentially attenuate the effect. Cross-cultural implications will also be explored.