Building on the dominant view that employees are central to firm innovation, human resource scholars have taken many strides to prove that that high-performance work systems (HPWS) trigger employees' innovative work behaviors (IWB). Contrary to expectations, we developed and tested a model indicating that HPWS creates psychological barriers, preventing employees from engaging in IWB. We propose that though at the surface HPWS has a positive indirect effect on IWB through employees’ psychological empowerment (PE), HPWS concurrently has an indirect negative effect on IWB through perceiving goals as invariable (PGAI). We also explore the moderating role of supervisors’ paradoxical behavior in people management (PBPM). Conducting a time-lagged study and collecting data from 81 working teams and 364 employees, we found support for our theoretical claims. Our findings demonstrate that notwithstanding, at the surface, HPWS can stimulate IWB by empowering employees, but HPWS stifles IWB by making employees believe goals are absolute and invariable. The results of our moderation test also demonstrate that supervisors’ PBPM, on the one hand, fosters the positive impact of HPWS on IWB through PE and, on the other, mitigates the negative impact of HPWS on IWB via PGAI. As such, this study contributes by unveiling the conflicting path mechanisms that operate simultaneously and decrease the likelihood of achieving our desired outcomes. Our study also provides valuable insights into how supervisors' PBPM are essential for establishing an effective HR system. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice.
