Enhancing creativity in organizations: the role of the need for cognition
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 28 December 2020
Issue publication date: 31 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explain the conditions under which positive personality traits and work environment factors either interact synergistically or yield diminishing-gains when creative individuals are in a supportive working environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained using a time-lagged design. The final sample includes 350 researchers from 64 scientific research teams.
Findings
The results indicate that the need for cognition is positively associated with individual creativity. Furthermore, this study suggests that perceived organizational support for creativity can complement an individual's need for cognition when it comes to individual creativity. This indicates a synergistic pattern. On the other hand, psychological safety can substitute for an individual's need for cognition when influencing individual creativity. Thus, a diminishing-gains pattern also exists.
Practical implications
The results suggest that when individuals are stuck in environments of low psychological safety, yet perceive higher levels of organizational support for creativity, their levels of creativity can be boosted.
Originality/value
This study is among one of the first to explore a supportive context's complementary or substitution effect on positive personality traits by demonstrating the complementary effect of perceived organizational support for creativity and the substitution effect of psychological safety. This study validates the positive effect of the need for cognition on creativity. This study also enriches the psychological safety literature by showing that psychological safety is not always necessary for individuals with a high need for cognition.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work is supported by the key project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (72032006): Platform ecosystem value co-creation mechanism and business model innovation, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71772149): The Effect of Leader Traits on Organizational Paradoxes in the Context of Strategic Entrepreneurship: Emergence, Response and Dynamic Change.
Citation
Pan, Y., Shang, Y. and Malika, R. (2021), "Enhancing creativity in organizations: the role of the need for cognition", Management Decision, Vol. 59 No. 9, pp. 2057-2076. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2019-0516
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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