Although the literature on status conflict has advanced in recent years, relatively little is known about how it influences employee creativity. Drawing on threat rigidity theory, we theorize that status conflict triggers stronger feelings of territoriality among employees, thereby undermining their creativity. We further hypothesize that status mutability moderates the positive relationship between status conflict and territoriality and the negative indirect association between status conflict and employee creativity, mediated by territoriality. We test these theoretical hypotheses through an experiment and a multi-wave, multi-source field study. Study 1 manipulated status conflict and status mutability, and provided causal evidence for these effects. Study 2, which used data collected from 316 employees and their 111 supervisors, supported our hypotheses. These findings offer theoretical and practical implications for status conflict management in organizations.
