Breaking the chains: The inverted-u-shaped relationship between action-state orientation and creativity under low job autonomy

Autor(en)
Ronald Bledow, Jana Kühnel, Mengzi Jin, Julius Kuhl
Abstrakt

When the social fabric of organizations limits individual autonomy, new ideas are needed that satisfy a person’s will as well as the constraints imposed by the social context. To explain when people achieve this synthesis and display creativity under low job autonomy, we examine the influence of their action-state orientation. The theory of action versus state orientation contrasts two responses people display when faced by a situation that conflicts with their will. An action-oriented response entails that people readily disengage from processing the situation and initiate goal-striving, while a state-oriented response entails that people remain focused on the situation. We argue that creativity under low job autonomy requires the integration of the competing processes underlying action and state orientation and is most frequently displayed by people in the midrange of the action-state orientation continuum. We test this theorizing with three studies. In a constrained laboratory setting, we induced a focus on an unwanted situation and demonstrated an inverted-U-shaped relationship between action-state orientation and creativity. A field study showed that the inverted-U-shaped relationship between action-state orientation and daily self-reports of creativity was strongest under low job autonomy and disappeared under high job autonomy. A multisource study replicated and extended these relationships using managerial ratings of creativity.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Arbeits-, Wirtschafts- und Sozialpsychologie
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität Osnabrück, Singapore Management University, Peking University
Journal
Journal of Management
Band
48
Seiten
905-935
Anzahl der Seiten
31
ISSN
0149-2063
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206321996812
Publikationsdatum
2021
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501002 Angewandte Psychologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Finance, Strategy and Management
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/breaking-the-chains-the-invertedushaped-relationship-between-actionstate-orientation-and-creativity-under-low-job-autonomy(304bce86-58ca-4e9d-9adf-26bd0063b7b5).html