Exploring individual-work context fit in affecting employee creativity in technology-based companies

Reducing the harmful effect of work overload on creative behaviour: Buffering roles of energy‐enhancing resources

“…Significant time constraints thus undermine employees' capacity beliefs with regard to creative endeavours (Avery et al, ; Unsworth & Clegg, ). Moreover, employees may interpret persistent work overload as disrespectful or even offensive, and the associated negative emotions that they experience may fuel their tendency to refrain from positive creative behaviours that otherwise could benefit their organization (Chen et al, ).…”

“…Employees tend to be less excited about the possibility of contributing to organizational effectiveness through positive work behaviours to the extent that they believe that their organization imposes unrealistic time pressures and deadlines on them (Pooja et al, ). This demanding work situation may be interpreted as a signal of disrespect for their work or contributions, such that they believe their organization does not deserve to benefit from their creative efforts (Chen et al, ). In contrast, if employees perceive that their workload is reasonable, the associated sense of organizational respect tends to make them more excited about their work situation (Altaf & Awan, ), so their propensity to develop new ideas that contribute to organizational effectiveness should increase.Hypothesis There is a negative relationship between employees' perceptions of work overload and their creative behaviour.…”

“…To understand the circumstances in which perceptions of work overload might be less likely to diminish creative behaviours, we first acknowledge that excessive workloads may diminish creativity for both ability and motivation reasons (Amabile, ; Kobe & Goller, ; Ma, Long, Zhang, Zhang, & Lam, ). That is, exposure to excessive workloads could undermine employees' beliefs that they have the capability to contribute successfully to their organization's well‐being through their creative activities, as well as thwart their intrinsic motivation to undertake these activities (Altaf & Awan, ; Chen et al, ). In turn, we propose that the translation of work overload into reduced creative behaviour might not be an automatic process but rather could be countered to the extent that employees have access to resources that spur their ability or desire to develop new ideas from which their organization can benefit (Bakker & Xanthopoulou, ).…”

“…According to this model, demanding work conditions deplete employees' energy levels, such that employees turn away from positive work behaviours, but their access to relevant resources can mitigate or buffer this process (Bakker & Demerouti, ; Pooja, De Clercq, & Belausteguigoitia, ). Similarly, our baseline premise is that when employees believe they have insufficient time to do their job because of unrealistic deadlines, the resulting energy depletion inhibits their discretionary efforts aimed at creating new ideas (Chen et al, ; van Emmerik, Bakker, & Euwema, ). However, we also propose that this negative relationship between work overload and creative behaviour should be less salient to the extent that employees (1) feel passionate about their work, (2) are able to share their emotions with organizational colleagues, and (3) experience positive emotions of commitment toward their employer.…”

Curriculum Development for Enhancing the Imagination in the Technology Commercialization Process

“…Creativity, which has long been considered as an important source of innovation and competitive strength for organization (Udwadia, 1990), refers to the generation of novel and useful ideas concerning products, services, process, and procedures (T. Amabile, 1996;Chen, Chang, & Chang, 2015). Barron and Harrington (1981) stressed that two primary categories of definitions have been used in large bodies of research: (1) creativity as an ability manifested in performance in critical trials (e.g., Silvia et al, 2008); (2) creativity as socially recognized achievement in which there are novel products that one can point to as evidence (e.g., Baer, Kaufman, & Gentile, 2004).…”