A STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK COMPLEXITY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF CREATIVITY

Abstract

The relationship between work complexity and creativity has since long been established in creativity research, often explained through a mediating process of intrinsic motivation. An important premise of this relationship has been that of creativity as a unitary construct. However, more recent conceptual work on creativity distinguishes between conceptually different types of creativity. This has brought about calls for alternative and more nuanced perspectives on the processes that bring about creativity. Consequently, the overarching purpose of this study was to make a contribution to creativity research by examining the argument that work complexity is related to conceptually different types of creativity, specifically proactive and responsive creativity. By doing this, this study expands the commonly used intrinsic motivation approach through the use of alternative and opposing theoretical perspectives. In order to accomplish this, this study considered alternative mediating psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between work complexity and different types of creativity, specifically psychological empowerment and cognitive overload. Finally, ambiguity tolerance as a moderator of the relationship between work complexity and psychological states was an integral part of this study given its potential to affect individuals' immediate psychological response to work complexity and its entailing consequences. Data were collected in both Sweden and South Korea and the final sample consisted of 143 independent dyads of focal employees and their supervisors from a diverse range of organizations and industries including general management, manufacturing, R&D, and sales. Hypotheses were examined through several sets of hierarchical regression analyses. Standard statistical procedures were adopted to test for the presence of mediating as well as interacting and moderating effects.

With partial support for the proposed model, the results of this study showed that work complexity indeed has the potential to stimulate different types of creativity, explained through separate psychological processes. These results are consistent with earlier research following the intrinsic motivation-approach, but also indicate that alternative frameworks might indeed be called for. This study also found that an individual's level of ambiguity tolerance moderates the relationship between work complexity and the psychological response. These findings provide implications for both managers and researchers by suggesting possible ways for organizations and managers to act depending on the desired or required type of creative effort. Finally, directions for future research were discussed.