Experiments on creativity and work design

Cortney Rodet ()

Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2021, vol. 30, issue 3, 600-613

Abstract: Creative jobs make up an increasingly large part of the economy. While contextual factors of work design have been shown to affect job performance in various settings, their impact on creative tasks is understudied. This study uses a controlled laboratory experiment to understand the impact of time constraints and goal setting on creativity. I find that reducing task constraints by making time constraints ambiguous increases the creativity of ideas without undermining their quantity, relative to the baseline. I also find that a nonbinding quantity‐oriented goal increases the quantity of ideas without reducing creative quality. Likewise, a nonbinding creativity‐oriented goal increases the creativity of ideas without decreasing the number of ideas. Results indicate that work design is an important factor when developing strategies for cultivating creativity, and managers have several tools at their disposal.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12417

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:600-613

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... ref=1058-6407&site=1

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Economics & Management Strategy from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().