Working in Failure Contexts: Demotivational Implications and the Buffering Role of Managerial Responsibility and Individual Failure Experience

ABSTRACT Project failures are common in innovative organizations, and mitigating the negative consequences on R&D employees' job attitudes and outcomes is a critical managerial task. While prior research has emphasized the motivational costs and coping mechanisms associated with experiencing personal project failure, the demotivational impact of working in environments where others' projects frequently fail, and how such effects can be mitigated, remains underexplored. Drawing on job demands‐resources theory, we conceptualize a perceived failure context as a hindrance demand that impairs R&D employees' work engagement and, in turn, job satisfaction. We further examine managerial responsibility and individual failure experience as key job and personal resources that buffer these negative effects. Using data from 437 R&D employees across 49 innovative organizations, we find that perceived failure contexts lower work engagement and indirectly reduce job satisfaction but that R&D employees with managerial responsibility or individual failure experience are less affected. Our findings contribute to the literature on failure, work engagement, and critical resources in innovation contexts.