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Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creativity

Organizational Behavior and Theory

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Personality Dynamics Turn Positive And Negative Mood Into Creativity, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kuhnel, Julius Kuhl Jan 2024

Personality Dynamics Turn Positive And Negative Mood Into Creativity, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kuhnel, Julius Kuhl

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Introduction: Research on the link between affect and creativity rests on the assumption that creativity unfolds as a stimulus-driven response to affective states. We challenge this assumption and examine whether personality dynamics moderate the relationship of positive and negative mood with creativity.Theoretical Model: According to our model, personality dynamics that generate and maintain positive affect and down-regulate negative affect energize creativity. Based on this model, we expect high creativity in response to negative mood if people engage in self-motivation and achieve a reduction in negative mood. We further derive that individual differences in action versus state orientation moderate the within-person …


Breaking The Chains: The Inverted-U-Shaped Relationship Between Action-State Orientation And Creativity Under Low Job Autonomy, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kühnel, Mengzi Jin, Julius Kuhl Apr 2022

Breaking The Chains: The Inverted-U-Shaped Relationship Between Action-State Orientation And Creativity Under Low Job Autonomy, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kühnel, Mengzi Jin, Julius Kuhl

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

When the social fabric of organizations limits individual autonomy, new ideas are needed that satisfy a person’s will as well as the constraints imposed by the social context. To explain when people achieve this synthesis and display creativity under low job autonomy, we examine the influence of their action-state orientation. The theory of action versus state orientation contrasts two responses people display when faced by a situation that conflicts with their will. An actionoriented response entails that people readily disengage from processing the situation and initiate goal-striving, while a state-oriented response entails that people remain focused on the situation. We …


There Is A Time To Be Creative: The Alignment Between Chronotype And Time Of Day, Jana Kuehnel, Ronald Bledow, Markus Kiefer Feb 2022

There Is A Time To Be Creative: The Alignment Between Chronotype And Time Of Day, Jana Kuehnel, Ronald Bledow, Markus Kiefer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the influence of chronobiological processes on creativity, specifically the influence of a person’s chronotype. Chronotype refers to the setting of a person’s biological clock that gives rise to a distinctive pattern of sleep habits and preferred diurnal activity. We propose a synchrony effect and predict that people are creative when the external clock is aligned with their internal, biological clock. According to our model, positive mood and creative self-efficacy act as affective and cognitive mechanisms of this synchrony effect. We present three studies that test our theorizing: A quasi-experimental field study with 260 employees, a day-reconstruction study with …


Unlocking The Creativity Potential Of Dialectical Thinking: Field Investigations Of The Comparative Effects Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership Styles, Roy Y. J. Chua, Jia Hui Lim, Wannwiruch (Fon) Wiruchnipawan Nov 2021

Unlocking The Creativity Potential Of Dialectical Thinking: Field Investigations Of The Comparative Effects Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership Styles, Roy Y. J. Chua, Jia Hui Lim, Wannwiruch (Fon) Wiruchnipawan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a digital economy characterized by high volumes of information and ideas, many of which could be contradictory to one another, employees high in dialectical thinking should be well poised to connect disparate ideas to generate creative solutions for business problems. Yet, it is unclear whether dialectical thinking as a creativity-relevant skill can be realized in naturalistic workplace settings, given past mixed findings and the lack of field studies. We propose that supervisors’ leadership styles are important moderators that can unlock employees’ creativity potential in dialectical thinking. Additionally, we compare the activating effect of transformational leadership and the inhibiting effect …


Across The Great Divides: Gender Dynamics Influence How Intercultural Conflict Helps Or Hurts Creative Collaboration, Roy Y. J. Chua, Mengzi Jin Jun 2020

Across The Great Divides: Gender Dynamics Influence How Intercultural Conflict Helps Or Hurts Creative Collaboration, Roy Y. J. Chua, Mengzi Jin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Collaborating across cultures can potentially increase creativity due to access to diverse ideas and perspectives, but this benefit is not always realized. One reason is that the conflict that arises in intercultural creative collaboration is a double-edged sword and how it is managed matters. In this research, we examine how the gender of collaborating dyads influences the link between intercultural conflict (task and relationship) and creative collaboration effectiveness. Through two studies (a laboratory study and a field survey), we found that intercultural task conflict has a negative effect on creative collaboration in men dyads but a positive effect on creative …


Mapping Cultural Tightness And Its Links To Innovation, Urbanization, And Happiness Across 31 Provinces In China, Roy Y. J. Chua, Kenneth Huang, Mengzi Jin Apr 2019

Mapping Cultural Tightness And Its Links To Innovation, Urbanization, And Happiness Across 31 Provinces In China, Roy Y. J. Chua, Kenneth Huang, Mengzi Jin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We conduct a 3-y study involving 11,662 respondents to map cultural tightness—the degree to which a society is characterized by rules and norms and the extent to which people are punished or sanctioned when they deviate from these rules and norms—across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that culturally tight provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. Departing from previous findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization, economic growth, better health, greater …


Innovating At Cultural Crossroads: How Multicultural Social Networks Promote Ideas Flow And Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua Mar 2018

Innovating At Cultural Crossroads: How Multicultural Social Networks Promote Ideas Flow And Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Diversity in social networks is often linked to enhanced creativity. Emerging research on exposure to diverse informational resources (e.g., ideas and knowledge) however has painted a more complex picture regarding its effect on individuals’ creative performance. This research examines the effects of culturally diverse networks on the flow of ideas and individuals’ creativity. Combining social network analysis with experimental methods, two studies using different samples found that a culturally diverse network increases the likelihood of receiving culture-related novel ideas (but not other types of novel ideas) from network contacts, whether or not these contacts share one’s own culture of origin. …


The Temporal Pattern Of Creativity And Implementation In Teams, Kathrin Rosing, Ronald Bledow, Michael Frese, Nataliya Baytalskaya, Johanna Johanna Johnson Lascano, James L. Farr Jan 2018

The Temporal Pattern Of Creativity And Implementation In Teams, Kathrin Rosing, Ronald Bledow, Michael Frese, Nataliya Baytalskaya, Johanna Johanna Johnson Lascano, James L. Farr

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Two broad sets of activities underlie team innovation: the creation and the implementation of new ideas. Despite the prevalence of this distinction, the temporal dynamics of creativity and implementation in teams and their relation to successful team innovation are not well understood. Building on and integrating linear phase models and complexity perspectives on the innovation process, we propose a temporal pattern of creativity and implementation that is linked to team innovation. We examine this temporal pattern in a longitudinal study of 76 project teams. Results show that teams engage in creativity throughout the entire life cycle of team projects; however, …


Intercultural Relationships And Creativity:Current Research And Future Directions, Fon Wiruchnipawan, Roy Y. J. Chua Jan 2018

Intercultural Relationships And Creativity:Current Research And Future Directions, Fon Wiruchnipawan, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In the global economy, individuals have to engage in cross-cultural interactions when tasked to develop creative new products or services. Research on the effects of cultural diversity on creativity, however, has been equivocal. One stream of research champions that cultural diversity in relationships broadens ideas and resources for creative thinking, whereas skeptics counter that intercultural tensions and conflicts hurt rather than help. This chapter discusses both sides of the argument. We examine the effects of intercultural relationships on creativity from three perspectives: (a) how a culturally diverse social environment (including social networks) influences individuals’ creativity; (b) how individuals can successfully …


Not Just How Much You Know: Interactional Effect Of Cultural Knowledge And Metacognition On Creativity In A Global Context, Chua, Roy Y. J., Kok Yee Ng Jun 2017

Not Just How Much You Know: Interactional Effect Of Cultural Knowledge And Metacognition On Creativity In A Global Context, Chua, Roy Y. J., Kok Yee Ng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The ability to think and solve problems creatively in a multicultural environment is critical for success in the 21st century. Integrating research on creative cognition and cultural intelligence, we examine the interactional effects of two cognitive capabilities – cultural knowledge and cultural metacognition – on individuals’ creativity in multicultural teams. We propose that although cultural knowledge is useful for creativity,too much knowledge can be detrimental because of cognitive overload and entrenchment.This inverted U-shaped relationship however, is moderated by cultural metacognition.Results of our study support our hypothesis of an inverted U-shape relationship between cultural knowledge and creativity. As expected, we found …


The Impact Of Culture On Creativity: How Cultural Tightness And Cultural Distance Affect Global Innovation Crowdsourcing Work, Roy Y. J. Chua, Yannig Roth, Jean-François Lemoine Jun 2015

The Impact Of Culture On Creativity: How Cultural Tightness And Cultural Distance Affect Global Innovation Crowdsourcing Work, Roy Y. J. Chua, Yannig Roth, Jean-François Lemoine

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper advances a new theoretical model to understand the effect of culture on creativity in a global context. We theorize that creativity engagement and success depend on the cultural tightness—the extent to which a country is characterized by strong social norms and low tolerance for deviant behaviors—of both an innovator’s country and the audience’s country, as well as the cultural distance between these two countries. Using field data from a global online crowdsourcing platform that organizes creative contests for consumer-product brands, supplemented by interviews with marketing experts, we found that individuals from tight cultures are less likely than counterparts …


Unleashing Creativity Across Cultural Borders, Roy Y. J. Chua May 2014

Unleashing Creativity Across Cultural Borders, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As the global economy integrates and companies pursue opportunities outside their traditional borders, it is increasingly important to innovate across cultural borders. This article explains how individuals can improve cross-cultural creativity.


Intergroup Competition As A Double-Edged Sword: How Sex Composition Regulates The Effects Of Competition On Group Creativity, Marcus Baer, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Roger T. A. J. Leenders, Greg R. Oldham May 2014

Intergroup Competition As A Double-Edged Sword: How Sex Composition Regulates The Effects Of Competition On Group Creativity, Marcus Baer, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Roger T. A. J. Leenders, Greg R. Oldham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Building on social role theory, we extend a contingency perspective on intergroup competition proposing that having groups compete against one another is stimulating to the creativity of groups composed largely or exclusively of men but detrimental to the creativity of groups composed largely or exclusively of women. We tested this idea in two separate studies: a laboratory experiment (Study 1) and a field study (Study 2). Study 1 showed that competition had the expected positive effects on the creativity of groups composed mostly or exclusively of men and produced the predicted negative effects on the creativity of groups composed of …


The Costs Of Ambient Cultural Disharmony: Indirect Intercultural Conflicts In Social Environment Undermine Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua Dec 2013

The Costs Of Ambient Cultural Disharmony: Indirect Intercultural Conflicts In Social Environment Undermine Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Intercultural tensions and conflicts are inevitable in the global workplace. This paper introduces the concept of ambient cultural disharmony—indirect experience of intercultural tensions and conflicts in individuals' immediate social environment—and demonstrates how it undermines creative thinking in tasks that draw on knowledge from multiple cultures. Three studies (a network survey and two experiments) found that ambient cultural disharmony decreases individuals' effectiveness at connecting ideas from disparate cultures. Beliefs that ideas from different cultures are incompatible mediate the relationship between ambient cultural disharmony and creativity. Alternative mechanisms such as negative affect and cognitive disruption were not viable mediators. Although ambient cultural …


A Dynamic Perspective On Affect And Creativity, Ronald Joachim Bledow, K. Rosing, M. Frese Jan 2013

A Dynamic Perspective On Affect And Creativity, Ronald Joachim Bledow, K. Rosing, M. Frese

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We argue that creativity is influenced by the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect: High creativity results if a person experiences an episode of negative affect that is followed by a decrease in negative affect and an increase in positive affect, a process referred to as an “affective shift.” An experience-sampling study with 102 full-time employees provided support for the hypotheses. An experimental study with 80 students underlined the proposed causal effect of an affective shift on creativity. We discuss practical implications for facilitating creativity in organizations.


Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition And Affect-Based Trust In Creative Collaboration, Roy Y. J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, Shira Mor Jul 2012

Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition And Affect-Based Trust In Creative Collaboration, Roy Y. J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, Shira Mor

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose that managers adept at thinking about their cultural assumptions (cultural metacognition) are more likely than others to develop affect-based trust in their relationships with people from different cultures, enabling creative collaboration. Study 1, a multi-rater assessment of managerial performance, found that managers higher in metacognitive cultural intelligence (CQ) were rated as more effective in intercultural creative collaboration by managers from other cultures. Study 2, a social network survey, found that managers lower in metacognitive CQ engaged in less sharing of new ideas in their intercultural ties but not intracultural ties. Study 3 required participants to work collaboratively with …


Relation-Specific Creative Performance In Voluntary Collaborations: A Micro-Foundation For Competitive Advantage?, Terence Ping Ching Fan, Duncan Robertson Jun 2011

Relation-Specific Creative Performance In Voluntary Collaborations: A Micro-Foundation For Competitive Advantage?, Terence Ping Ching Fan, Duncan Robertson

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A fundamental question in the strategy literature is how sustainable competitive advantage can be generated within one firm and yet difficult to copy by another. We offer one solution to this conundrum by way of relation-specific performance that is developed in creative projects – where the individuals involved have significant latitude on the intended objectives as well as their collaborators on these projects. Because higher-level cognition is involved in navigating such projects from conception to implementation, there is heightened relation-specificity in their performance – as measured by how widely they are adopted by third-party users. This relationspecificity means that any …


Embeddedness And New Idea Discussion In Professional Networks: The Mediating Role Of Affect-Based Trust, Roy Y. J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, Paul Ingram Jun 2011

Embeddedness And New Idea Discussion In Professional Networks: The Mediating Role Of Affect-Based Trust, Roy Y. J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, Paul Ingram

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article examines how managers' tendency to discuss new ideas with others in their professional networks depends on the density of shared ties surrounding a given relationship. Consistent with prior research which found that embeddedness enhances information flow, an egocentric network survey of mid-level executives shows that managers tend to discuss new ideas with those who are densely embedded in their professional networks. More specifically, embeddedness increases the likelihood to discuss new ideas by engendering affect-based trust, as opposed to cognition-based trust. Implications for network and creativity research are discussed.


Creativity As A Matter Of Choice: Prior Experience And Task Instruction As Boundary Conditions For The Positive Effect Of Choice On Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua, Sheena S. Iyengar Sep 2008

Creativity As A Matter Of Choice: Prior Experience And Task Instruction As Boundary Conditions For The Positive Effect Of Choice On Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua, Sheena S. Iyengar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study investigates the effects of prior experience, task instruction, and choice on creative performance. Although extant research suggests that giving people choice in how they approach a task could enhance creative performance, we propose that this view needs to be circumscribed. Specifically, we argue that when choice is administered during problem solving by varying the number of available resources, the high combinatorial flexibility conferred by a large choice set of resources can be overwhelming. Through two experiments, we found that only individuals with high prior experience in the task domain and given explicit instruction to be creative produced more …


Managing Creativity In Organizations: A Total System Approach, Gilbert Tan Mar 1998

Managing Creativity In Organizations: A Total System Approach, Gilbert Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Organizations need creativity to adapt to the fast-changing environment and revitalize itself. In response to this need, managers have invested in various single approaches, such as, creativity training programmes, team-building, and leadership development to improve creativity. This paper argues that managing creativity in organization is a complex problem and thus requires a more integrated approach. In this paper, I have provided a theoretical framework to explain how managers can foster and sustain creativity in their organizations using a total systems approach. In the framework, I depict the organization as having four subsystems, namely, culture, techno-structural subsystems, management and people. Each …