{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T05:19:01Z","timestamp":1787548741493,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787529600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Although employees\u2019 deviant innovative behavior lacks formal authorization, it may become a key driver of organizational innovation performance in the digital era. However, its generation mechanism\u2014shaped by the interplay of psychological perception, organizational design, and external institutional forces\u2014remains underexplored, particularly in the Chinese context. To investigate the motives for innovation in a turbulent era, this paper adopts the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework as the analytic system and applies fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to carry out a configurational study of sample data from 326 corporate employees in China. Focusing on six antecedent conditions including AI anxiety, generative AI skills, gamification of platform work, autonomous decision-making, job insecurity and government support. Based on the empirical study, the following have been found: (1) No single element in the system needs to be triggered to motivate employees\u2019 deviant innovation behavior; (2) There are three equivalent system pathways for achieving high levels of employee deviant innovation behavior, categorized as the Anxiety-autonomy driven pathway, the External supported driven pathway, and the Passive triggered driven pathway; (3) A specific combination of conditions inhibits deviant innovation (Low activation environment inhibited type), demonstrating asymmetric causal complexity with the high-drive pathways. This study breaks through the limitations of traditional linear analysis, broadens the application boundaries of the TOE framework in innovation management from a complex systems perspective, and provides valuable theoretical support and practical guidance for systematically stimulating employees\u2019 innovative potential in localized digital contexts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1906727","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T04:23:25Z","timestamp":1787545405000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["How AI anxiety and contextual factors shape employee deviant innovation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Zheng","family":"Ma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Huainan Normal University","place":["Huainan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hanwen","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dongfang College, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics","place":["Haining, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanshu","family":"Ji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business, Nanjing University","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1007\/978-0-387-68930-2_2","volume-title":"Handbook of Politics: State and Society in Global Perspective","author":"Amenta","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.respol.2004.09.010","article-title":"Bootlegging and path dependency","volume":"34","author":"Augsdorfer","year":"2005","journal-title":"Res. 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