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Purpose Employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior is common and plays an important role in enterprise management. Based on the resource conservation theory and self-regulation theory, the purpose of this study is to explore the influence mechanism of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior, with psychological safety as a mediator and mindfulness at workplace as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were gathered from 591 employees’ self-assessment questionnaires in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research model through SPSS and AMOS. Findings This study found that the leaders’ abusive supervision negatively affects employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; employees’ psychological safety completely mediates the negative effect of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; and mindfulness at work moderates the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employee’ bootlegging innovation behavior, as well as the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ psychological safety. Research limitations/implications This study has significant implications in passive leadership that affect employees’ innovation. Authors found that leaders’ abusive supervise, mindfulness at workplace play a crucial role in employees’ bootleg innovation through psychological safety. Originality/value Theoretically, this study has enriched the antecedent research on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior from the perspective of negative leadership behavior and employee psychology. And this study considered mindfulness at workplace as a boundary condition.

To develop innovations in large, mature organizations, individuals often have to resort to underground, “bootleg” research and development (R&D) activities that have no formal organizational support. In doing so, these individuals attempt to achieve greater autonomy over the direction of their R&D efforts and to escape the constraints of organizational accountability. Drawing on theories of proactive creativity and innovation, we argue that these underground R&D efforts help individuals to develop innovations based on the exploration of uncharted territory and delayed assessment of embryonic ideas. After carefully assessing the direction of causality, we find that individuals’ bootleg efforts are associated with achievement of high levels of innovative performance. Furthermore, we show that the costs and benefits of bootlegging for innovation are contingent on the emphasis on the enforcement of organizational norms in the individual’s work environment; we argue and demonstrate empirically that the benefits of an individual’s bootlegging efforts are enhanced in work units with high levels of innovative performance and which include members who are also engaged in bootlegging. However, during periods of organizational change involving formalization of the R&D process, individuals who increase their bootlegging activities are less likely to innovate. We explore the implications of these findings for our understanding of proactive and deviant creativity.