The Effects of Routinization on Radical and Incremental Creativity: The Mediating Role of Mental Workloads

Heesun Chae and Jisung Park ()
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Heesun Chae: College of Business Administration, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Nam-gu, Busan 48513, Republic of Korea
Jisung Park: School of Business, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: An important question within the creativity literature is whether routinization inhibits individuals’ creative performance. Scholars have concentrated on complex and demanding jobs that promote creativity while ignoring the potential effects of routinized activities on creativity. Moreover, little is known about the impact of routinization on creativity, and the few studies investigating this matter have reported inconclusive and inconsistent results. This study investigates the mixed impacts of routinization on creativity by examining whether routinization has a direct impact on two dimensions of creativity or an indirect impact through the mediating role of mental workloads, such as mental effort load, time load, and psychological stress load. Based on multisource and time-lagged data from 213 employee–supervisor dyads, we found a positive direct effect of routinization on incremental creativity. In addition, routinization had both an indirect effect on radical creativity via time load and on incremental creativity via mental effort load. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: routinization; radical creativity; incremental creativity; mental workloads; mental effort load; time load; psychological stress load; longitudinal study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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