In any team or organisation, creativity is the cornstone of innovation to drive organisational success. However, the question is often asked: what drives employee creativity more – competence, or interest?
In a recent research article, CEIBS Professor of Management Tae-Yeol Kim joins others to examine the interrelationships between creative self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation for creativity in shaping employee creativity.
Every company wants its employees to be creative, so that they may generate new and useful ideas that can propel the future success of the organisation. Creativity scholars frequently examine creative self-efficacy (the "can-do" factor where you believe yourself capable of producing creative outcomes) and intrinsic motivation for creativity (the "want-to-do" factor where you engage with a creative task for the sake of personal satisfaction, enjoyment, and intellectual fulfilment), but tend to study them separately.
This leaves a vital question unanswered: do these two factors influence employee creativity equally and concurrently, or do they have a directional relationship where one precedes the other? Essentially, when it comes to employee creativity, does self-perceived competence drive interest, or does interest drive competence? Or do these two mental influences simply "pull the cart" of creativity together?
Through two studies of 200+ business-major students from universities in South China, a further study of 400+ technical professionals and 100+ supervisors from two Chinese high-tech companies, and a third study of 370 employees and 100+ supervisors from R&D departments in two Chinese companies, we found that:
The influence of creative self-efficacy on intrinsic motivation for creativity is stronger than the reverse, i.e.: competence consistently drives interest, rather than interest driving competence. Creative self-efficacy can further promote intrinsic motivation for creativity (which in turn boosts employee creativity) if an employee has enhanced resilience (the ability to make positive adjustments to, and bounce back from, adversity). Task difficulty strengthens this relationship. Intrinsic motivation for creativity can promote creative self-efficacy, but in a more indirect manner. It requires the fostering of creative process engagement (defined as engaging in the processes of problem identification, information searching and encoding, and idea and alternative generation) in an employee. Task variability strengthens this relationship.
These findings are significant as they undermine the romantic philosophical tradition of viewing creativity as beginning with people's exploration of their intrinsic interests. Instead, it appears much more likely that having a "can-do" motivation for creativity is what fuels an intrinsic interest in creative tasks, and subsequently a greater capability to complete them. Therefore, if employees have higher creative self-efficacy, they are more likely to find themselves eager and willing to engage with creative tasks.
Resilience is a crucial piece of the employee creativity puzzle too; resilient employees are even more likely to apply their "can-do" attitude to motivate themselves to tackle a creative task when it is difficult, with a lack of established knowledge and/or a high level of unpredictability regarding which alternatives will lead to success.
For organisations looking to boost the creativity of their employees, this process must begin with encouraging creative self-efficacy. This can become a priority right from the hiring stage, with recruiters actively searching for candidates with a strong "can-do" attitude regarding creative tasks and processes.
Managers can also select individuals with such an attitude when assigning creative tasks across their team. They can also engage in social persuasion tactics, such as telling their employees that they can be creative, while working to create small wins and progression milestones for those team members who lack creative self-efficacy.
In the workplace setting, at least, having an interest in tackling creative tasks is not enough to forge success. It takes a deeper sense of belief in one's own competence in being creative; this is where organisations, managers and ambitiously minded employees must focus their efforts, if greater employee creativity is the desired outcome.
This article refers to a study entitled: "Competence Drives Interest or Vice Versa? Untangling the Bidirectional Relationships between Creative Self-Efficacy and Intrinsic Motivation for Creativity in Shaping Employee Creativity" by Tingting Chen, Tae-Yeol Kim, Yaping Gong, and Yongyi Liang in the Journal of Management Studies.
Tingting Chen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management of Lingnan University. Tae-Yeol Kim is Philips Chair and Professor of Management at CEIBS. Yaping Gong is a Professor of Management at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Yongyi Liang is an Assistant Professor in the School of Management of Jinan University.
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