Nonlinear Effects of Digital Monitoring Intensity on Knowledge Worker Creativity: Panel Evidence and a Prediction-Oriented Calibration Module

Digital monitoring technologies have enhanced organizational efficiency while simultaneously creating tension with employee creativity. When monitoring intensity increases, it may improve goal clarity and coordination, but excessive monitoring can constrain autonomy and induce defensive behaviors such as knowledge hiding. Using panel data from R&D teams in high-technology industries, this study examines the nonlinear relationship between monitoring intensity and creativity and finds evidence of an inverted U-shaped pattern with a discernible inflection point. The results further indicate that monitoring operates through a dual-path mechanism, simultaneously activating achievement motivation and triggering knowledge hiding, with the dominant pathway varying across different levels of monitoring intensity. In addition, contextual factors, particularly task-related conditions, reshape this relationship by shifting the inflection point and altering the curvature, suggesting that the effectiveness of monitoring depends on the alignment between monitoring practices and task characteristics. Building on these findings, the study proposes a data-informed adaptive perspective in which monitoring intensity is dynamically adjusted rather than fixed at a single level. Overall, the study offers a nonlinear and mechanism-based explanation of how digital monitoring affects creativity and, in a supplementary step, develops a bounded predictive tool for monitoring calibration in innovation-oriented work settings.