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The influence of constraints (i.e., barriers or limitations) on creativity has drawn attention from various fields but has largely yielded conflicting findings. Some studies suggest constraints may have a positive impact on creativity while others find a negative impact. In an effort to clarify this debate and provide direction for future efforts, this meta-analysis examined the relationship between constraints and creativity.Using a sample of 111 published and unpublished studies, a series of random-effects meta-regression models and subgroup analyses were conducted and identified a significant positive relationship between constraints and creativity. Moderator analyses confirmed the relationship differed substantially depending on the constraint type, study design, funding status, and creativity operationalization and measurement.These findings suggest that constraints may not be detrimental to creativity, despite prior assumptions. Findings further suggest that constraint type may be less influential than typically assumed. Instead, methodological artifacts provide a better explanation for the varying existing findings in how constraints benefit or hinder creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

To stay competitive in today's economy, organizational leaders are making creativity and innovation a key business priority. As such, organizations and scholars have become increasingly interested in how to manage constraints during the creative process. There are 2 primary schools of thought pertaining to the relationship between constraints and creativity. Traditionally, constraints are thought to inhibit creativity. However, an emerging line of work suggests that constraints may, in fact, facilitate creative performance. To address the debate around the role of constraints in creative efforts, the present effort examined how adjusting "constraindness" influenced creative performance. To test this, participants were asked to design a marketing campaign for a NCAA Division 1 football program and were presented with constraints at multiple time points during the idea generation process. Results revealed that the introduction of constraints early on during the idea generation phase may be beneficial to creative endeavors but being overly constrained may hinder creative performance. This work adds to a growing body of literature regarding the constraint-creativity relationship and provides insight to practitioners regarding how best to use and manage constraints for optimal creative performance.

The rise of Industry 4.0 – the proliferation of cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, big data, and automation – has turned attention, once again, to the interaction between humans and robots . Captivating attention in both academic and public spheres, the debate on how humans and robots interact largely centres around the interplay between human and artificial cognition. The human-robot cognition interaction fuels practical inquiries into the formation of high-performing human-robot teams, leveraging robots to enhance human cognition, and the capacity for robots to overtake human cognition. At the heart of these conversations, however, lies a critical question – what does the Future of Work look like? (see, for example, OECD, 2017). As robots take on more and more tasks previously performed by humans, where does that leave the human worker?

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