Innovation in Organizations: A Multi-Level Perspective on Creativity

The effect of average scores in reading, mathematics and science on innovation and income: A quantitative analysis for a group of countries

The purpose of this paper is to The goal of this study is to empirically examine how innovation and income are affected by PISA scores-average scores in math, science, and reading. The specific objectives are threefold. First, we develop a conceptual model that describes the connection between income, innovation, and educational quality as determined by PISA scores. Second, we perform an empirical analysis to see if educational quality as assessed by the PISA scores has an impact on innovation.Third, we also test whether the PISA scores have a positive effect on income (GDP per capita). Using panel mode, we find that education quality has a significant and positive effect on innovation and income. Particularly high math test scores have been found to be an important subject that increases per capita income and innovation.

A longitudinal study of the effect of individual and socio-cultural factors on students’ creativity

This longitudinal study investigated how characteristics of individual and social relationships affect Korean students’ creativity development. Fifth graders (male: 3,623, female: 3,701) from 242 schools in Korea were followed annually from their 5th to 9th grades (indicating from the 5th elementary school grade to the 3rd middle school grade in the Korean school system). Exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability (coefficient alpha), confirmatory factor analysis, and two-level growth model methods were performed. We investigated all nine constructs and their related items by checking metric and scalar invariance assumptions. When the measurement invariance assumptions were satisfied, we used the mean of items that constitute respective factors. We checked growth trajectories of creativity and tapped the possibility of the existence of subgroups based on the growth/change pattern using latent class growth modeling. The results showed that no subgroups existed. Thus, we constructed a two-level growth model to investigate the overall growth pattern of the students. Regarding level 1, we included time-varying variables such as peer attachment, self-regulation habits (self-management), parents’ academy-oriented involvement, parent affective support, individualized, interactive teaching methods, teachers’ academic pressure, and academic achievement. At level 2, we used gender and parenting style that was obtained at time point 1. The final combined model incorporating level 1 and 2 variables showed that students’ self-regulation had the most association with the student’s creativity followed by peer attachment, parents’ academic support, interaction with parents, interaction with teachers, academic pressure from teachers, and relationships with teachers. Methods for enhancing students’ creativity were discussed.

Integrating workplace meetings and team creative process literature: A multi-level perspective

Expanding existing meeting typologies, this paper introduces a model of the team creative process in meetings to better capture and study the full breath of meeting activity that results in creative outcomes. The primary goal of this work is to describe the processes that occur in the team creative process in meetings at the individual and team levels. A multi-level model that depicts the emergence of team creative cognitive processes from individual-level cognitions is presented. The nature of emergence of team creative processes is detailed. Research on creativity and meetings is integrated to better understand how meeting design characteristics influence creative output. This review of research is distilled to provide practical recommendations to best construct meetings to facilitate individual and team creativity. Additionally, the role of related team states in creative processes meetings is outlined. Finally, paths for future research on creativity in meetings are discussed.

Plain Language Summary

This article explores how individuals and teams think creatively in meetings. A model of meetings that have goals to produce creative outcomes is presented. The association between individual thinking processes and group thinking processes is presented alongside a discussion of relevant surrounding influences. Research on creative thinking and workplace meetings is used to better understand how meetings can be used to improve creativity. Practical recommendations to improve the production of creative outcomes in meetings are also provided.

Employee engagement during COVID-19 in Malaysia

This objective of this study was to examine the effects of communication, training and development, and transformational leadership on employee engagement during COVID-19 in Malaysia. Four hundred individuals were recruited, and data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Communication, training and development, and transformational leadership were found to positively affect employee engagement. In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, this study investigated the aforementioned factors as part of the reciprocal process between the employee and the employer and their effects on employee engagement, thereby making original theoretical contributions. This study also provides vital insights for businesses to consider when designing effective employee engagement plans for future well-being in the workplace.

Interactive Association of Negative Creative Thinking and Malevolent Creative Thinking

With the existing research available on negative and malevolent creativity, this paper proposes a more narrowly defined concept: the bi-directional relationship between negative and malevolent creative thinking, which is intended to clarify the way forward for research in the area of negative and malevolent creativity. This paper uses qualitative research to identify and correlate an individual's concept of negative and malevolent creativity and uses a Inductive reasoning methodology to outline a preliminary theory. Following this, the preliminary theory was returned to the primary sources for validation, continuous optimization, and presentation. To better demonstrate the bidirectional linkage mechanism of thinking between the two types, this paper constructed a model to describe the relationships between the variables. This study concludes that negative creative thinking is a kind of native thinking based on personal interests that are developed to emphasize the benefits of an individual's interests, while malevolent creative thinking is a kind of native thinking based on the value-added of personal interests and is deliberately harmful. Both types of thinking share a value orientation, environmental stimulation, and subjective motivation. However, they differ in terms of value goals, ways of thinking, and the scale of the subject. It is concluded from the intrinsic thinking logic of individual thinking as well as the temporal dimension of the individual creative process that value-added and intentions to exploit others are factors that drive the transformation of negative creative thinking into malevolent creative thinking, and personal intention is a vital factor for establishing a linkage between negative and malevolent creative thinking.

Leveraging Human Resource Development Practice to Enhance Organizational Creativity: A Multilevel Conceptual Model

Developing creativity is a critical challenge for the survival and success of businesses. Using Amabile’s dynamic componential theory of creativity as a framework, we examined the underexplored potential of HRD practice to develop and foster creativity at the individual, group, and organizational levels. We bring together dispersed attempts in HRD literature to hypothesize the role of individual HRD activities under a conceptual model and indicate how the different activities influence specific component/s of organizational creativity identified in the theory. The model demonstrates the potential of HRD practice to exert a multilevel influence on organizational creativity and provides a theoretical grounding for the potential of HRD to develop creativity and augment the strategic capabilities of organizations. This article also contributes to organizational creativity literature by outlining specific relationships between key HRD practices and components of organizational creativity and to an underexplored area of creativity, namely developing the creative abilities of individuals and teams within organizational contexts.

Does inclusive leadership incite innovative work behavior?

BACKGROUND: Dynamic and globalized business environment incites organizations to be innovative for long-term survival. This central role of innovation provokes the continuing interest of social scientists in determining the antecedents of Innovative work behavior in organizations. OBJECTIVE: In line with the prior studies, this study aims to investigate the role of inclusive leadership in fostering employee innovative work behavior. Additionally, this study also investigates the mediating role of psychological safety. METHODS: Data were collected through a questionnaire from employees working in Pakistani banks. Hypothesized relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The findings of the study depicted a positive relationship between inclusive leadership and IWB, while mediation of psychological safety was also established. CONTRIBUTION: This study contributes to the existing literature in multiple ways. Although the link between inclusive leadership and creativity is measured but in what ways inclusive leadership develops the perception of employees, which leads towards positive outcomes is a contribution. This study extends the understanding of relational leadership by focusing on its specific dimension that is IL, instead of focusing on the broader construct of leadership.

Evaluating Climate between Working Excellence and Organizational Innovation: What Comes First?

This research introduces a new concept of organizational climate, seen as a "mediator", namely a factor liable to produce positive effects on both individual performances and on work processes and relations, thereby creating a favorable relationship between work excellence and organizational innovation. Health systems have been called to promote sustainability, as actors who work for the health and well-being of their patients. Starting from these considerations, this work shows the main results of a longitudinal study conducted in the pediatric department of a large hospital in southern Italy, for a period of three years (May 2014–May 2017). The reference survey was very broad because in the first step of the research a general questionnaire was adopted which included various aspects. Subsequently, the analysis of the influence of the “climate” factor was carried out according to a 3-dimensional scheme: structural, interpersonal/relational and individual. The focus was therefore set—especially in the second survey—on those indicators responding to the objective of the research and that were consistent with the epistemological choice made. The main scope was to verify the conditions according to which the organizational climate can emerge as a novel factor capable of siding with and orienting innovative patient-centered policies of human resources management.

The Effect of Problem Construction on Team Process and Creativity

Although research on the benefits of problem construction within the creative process is expanding, research on team problem construction is limited. This study investigates the cognitive process of problem construction and identification at the team level through an experimental design. Furthermore, this study explores team social processes in relation to problem construction instructions. Using student teams solving a real-world problem, the results of this study revealed that teams that engaged in problem construction and identification generated more original ideas than teams that did not engage in such processes. Moreover, higher satisfaction and lower conflict was observed among groups that engaged in problem construction compared to groups that did not engage in problem construction. These findings highlight the utility of problem construction for teams engaging in creative problem-solving.

Leader evaluation and team cohesiveness in the process of team development: A matter of gender?

Leadership positions are still stereotyped as masculine, especially in male-dominated fields (e.g., engineering). So how do gender stereotypes affect the evaluation of leaders and team cohesiveness in the process of team development? In our study participants worked in 45 small teams (4-5 members). Each team was headed by either a female or male leader, so that 45 leaders (33% women) supervised 258 team members (39% women). Over a period of nine months, the teams developed specific engineering projects as part of their professional undergraduate training. We examined leaders' self-evaluation, their evaluation by team members, and team cohesiveness at two points of time (month three and month nine, the final month of the collaboration). While we did not find any gender differences in leaders' self-evaluation at the beginning, female leaders evaluated themselves more favorably than men at the end of the projects. Moreover, female leaders were evaluated more favorably than male leaders at the beginning of the project, but the evaluation by team members did not differ at the end of the projects. Finally, we found a tendency for female leaders to build more cohesive teams than male leaders.