Motivational mechanisms of employee creativity: A meta-analytic examination and theoretical extension of the creativity literature

Dong Liu, Kaifeng Jiang, Christina E. Shalley, Sejin Keem and Jing Zhou

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2016, vol. 137, issue C, 236-263

Abstract: Drawing on the componential theory of creativity, social cognitive theory, and prosocial motivation theory, we examined intrinsic motivation, creative self-efficacy, and prosocial motivation as distinct motivational mechanisms underlying creativity. Results from a meta-analysis of 191 independent samples (N=51,659) documented in the relevant literature revealed that intrinsic motivation, creative self-efficacy, and prosocial motivation each had unique explanatory power in predicting creativity, and that the three motivational mechanisms functioned differently as mediators between contextual and personal factors and creativity. The relationships of intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy with creativity also were found to be contingent upon sample characteristics and methodological factors (i.e., national culture, creativity measure, intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy measures, and publication status). Our findings highlight the need to develop a more fine-grained theory of motivation and creativity. Implications for theoretical extensions and future research are discussed.

Keywords: Creativity; Intrinsic motivation; Creative self-efficacy; Prosocial motivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597816304794
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:jobhdp:v:137:y:2016:i:c:p:236-263

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.08.001

Access Statistics for this article

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes is currently edited by John M. Schaubroeck

More articles in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().