Psychology Ph.D. Dissertations

So You've Had the 'Ah Ha' Moment, Now What? Sustaining Organizational Creativity

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

First Advisor

Russell Matthews (Advisor)

Second Advisor

Dawn Anderson (Committee Member)

Third Advisor

Clare Barratt (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Carolyn Tompsett (Committee Member)

Abstract

This dissertation addressed two key areas within the creativity literature: how we conceptualize and subsequently measure creativity and how creativity is (or is not) sustained over time. Data was collected at three time points from 394 full-time employees using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results indicated that incremental creativity and radical creativity are two distinct constructs and can both be sustained over time. Specifically, intrinsic motivation was found to have a reciprocal positive relationship with both incremental and radical creativity over time. Results also indicated that employees who participate in incremental creativity may experience creativity fatigue, however creativity fatigue is not related to a reduction in incremental creativity in the future. These results provide support for measuring creativity from a more specific lens, and provide a foundation for researchers to continue to explore the contextual and individual factors that affect creativity over time. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.

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