A Review of Multilevel Regulatory Focus in Organizations

Over the past 15 years, regulatory focus has gained prominence as a theory of self-regulatory motivation. Building from personality and social psychology research, the nomological network of regulatory focus spans individuals, groups, and organizations. This review provides an appraisal of regulatory focus from a multilevel perspective as it relates to organizational behavior, human resources, strategic management, and entrepreneurship. We begin with a discussion of the theoretical foundations of regulatory focus, including hierarchical motivation and regulatory fit theory. Using these foundations, we summarize empirical research on regulatory focus and provide actionable avenues for future research on regulatory focus, with particular attention paid to how individuals adjust their motivational strategies on the basis of context. We also consider regulatory focus as a collective function of teams to develop our understanding of motivational processes in the workplace.