Experiments on Creativity and Optimal Work Design

The wellspring of creativity? Using divergent‐thinking tasks to understand creative characteristics

“…Evidence has also been found connecting creativity to a propensity to think reflectively (Corgnet et al, 2016). Likewise, questions regarding the environments that foster creativity are open to exploration (Amabile, 1988; Amabile et al, 1996; Amabile et al, 2002; Dutcher, 2012; Shalley, 1991; Rodet, 2021). Such questions are of paramount importance for understanding an organization's innovative capacity and ought to occupy the minds of managers, directors, administrators, and educators.…”

“…Such questions are of paramount importance for understanding an organization's innovative capacity and ought to occupy the minds of managers, directors, administrators, and educators. For instance, answers to these questions could influence whether firms strategically focus on hiring creative types or establishing environments that foster creativity (Corgnet et al, 2016; Dutcher & Rodet, 2020a; Rodet, 2021). Similarly, if experiential variety is crucial for developing creativity, institutions of higher education could justifiably increase interdisciplinary coursework to prepare minds for the demands of the creative economy.…”

“…However, seminal scholarship is stretching beyond the question of incentives to construct a theory on the fundamental ways in which creativity is developed and learned (Feinstein, 2006, 2011). Applications of this theory include understanding the impetus for team‐based creativity and innovation and the benefits of team diversity (Dutcher & Rodet, 2020a), understanding learning at the individual and organizational levels (Dutcher & Rodet, 2020b), and exploring the effects of various work designs on creativity (Rodet, 2021). The recent availability of comparable baseline data from divergent‐thinking experiments provides an opportunity in this paper to further investigate creative characteristics, such as experiential variety and the factors that influence it.…”