Antecedents of Team Creativity: An Examination of Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Trust and Collaborative Culture

Abstract

Teams represent a dominant approach to getting work done in a business environment. Creativity enables teams to solve problems and leverage opportunities through the integration of divergent thoughts and perspectives. Prior research indicates that a collaborative culture, which affects how team members interact and work together, is a critical antecedent of team creativity. This study explores other antecedents of team creativity, namely, team emotional intelligence and team trust, and investigates the relationships among these precursors to creative effort. Using a survey of 82 student teams at a large university in the northeast United States, our findings suggest that team emotional intelligence promotes team trust. Trust, in turn, fosters a collaborative culture which enhances the creativity of the team. Cognitive trust also moderates the relationship between collaborative culture and team creativity. Implications of these results for managers and academics are discussed.

The Influence of Proactive Green Innovation and Reactive Green Innovation on Green Product Development Performance: The Mediation Role of Green Creativity

“…Creativity can result in superior corporate performance [19]. Besides, the increase of creativity can effectively enhance competitive advantages [20]. Thus, creativity is a key determinant of corporate competitiveness [19].…”

An Empirical Study on the Organizational Trust, Employee-Organization Relationship and Innovative Behavior from the Integrated Perspective of Social Exchange and Organizational Sustainability

“…Since employees know the trust between them and organization is mutual, they often believe that their behaviors will be low risk [20]. Barczak, et al (2010) [44] noted that trust climate was the most important dimension of creativity in a group. If employees work in a trustworthy environment, they will feel no hostility from other members.…”

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“…Trust is understood as "the confidence that the reciprocal exchange between two parties will be met with a positive outcome for both" (Lee, Gillespie, Mann & Wearing, 2010). Perez Lopez, Peon, and Ordas (2004), as well as Barczak, Lassk, and Mulki (2010) define collaborative culture as a "team's shared values and beliefs about the organizations' support for adaptability, open communication, and encouragement of respect, teamwork, risk-taking and diversity." Trust is built on the platform of having information about others, prior ties of working together, standards of cooperation, and sanctions for all who might break norms of behavior.…”