Get creative to get ahead? How personality contributes to creative performance and perceptions by supervisors at work

Different personality factors drive work and non-work creativity

“…These results have implications for understanding the role of personality in work and non-work settings. Given the considerable empirical support for the positive association of Openness with creativity in the literature (e.g., Feist, 1998;Puryear et al, 2017Puryear et al, , 2019Weiss et al, 2021;Shaw and Choi, 2023), most of the organizational studies examining employee creativity have traditionally focused on the effects of situational factors in the workplace [e.g., leadership, managerial systems, time deadlines; see Anderson et al (2014) and Shalley et al (2004) for detailed reviews of contextual characteristics in the workplace] while restricting the scope of their research by treating Openness as the creative personality trait (e.g., Amabile, 1996;Shalley et al, 2004;Hunter et al, 2007;Erez and Nouri, 2010;Glăveanu, 2010;Strickland and The revealed associations of Extraversion and Conscientiousness with work creativity in the study are in line with prior research that found positive effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness on job-related proactivity (Gong et al, 2012;Neal et al, 2012) and job performance in general (Barrick and Mount, 1991;Costa and McCrae, 1992;Goldberg et al, 2006). In organizational settings, while employees with higher levels of Openness may be more dispositioned to embrace novel ideas and come up with new ways of doing things, oftentimes it also requires risk-taking and proactive tendencies (features of Extraversion) to initiate changes that challenge the status quo-the expressive extroverts are, at a minimum, more likely to voice and share their own opinions and suggestions compared to their introvert colleagues, especially when in front of a group of people at work (Costa and McCrae, 1992;Batey et al, 2010).…”

“…These results have implications for understanding the role of personality in work and non-work settings. Given the considerable empirical support for the positive association of Openness with creativity in the literature (e.g., Feist, 1998 ; Puryear et al, 2017 , 2019 ; Weiss et al, 2021 ; Shaw and Choi, 2023 ), most of the organizational studies examining employee creativity have traditionally focused on the effects of situational factors in the workplace [e.g., leadership, managerial systems, time deadlines; see Anderson et al (2014) and Shalley et al (2004) for detailed reviews of contextual characteristics in the workplace] while restricting the scope of their research by treating Openness as the creative personality trait (e.g., Amabile, 1996 ; Shalley et al, 2004 ; Hunter et al, 2007 ; Erez and Nouri, 2010 ; Glăveanu, 2010 ; Strickland and Towler, 2011 ), which inevitably led to somewhat underappreciation of the impact of other traits on creativity. Our study suggested that although employees’ personal creativity outside of work was associated with Openness solely, their work creativity as rated by supervisors was driven by Extraversion and Conscientiousness in addition to Openness, and that after controlling for the effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness, Openness did not contribute meaningful incremental prediction of work creativity, but Extraversion and Conscientiousness did explain unique variance in work creativity over Openness.…”

Personality traits as predictors of work creativity: A comparison between self- and other-reports.

“…Hunter and Cushenbery (2015) suggested that although disagreeable qualities helped with getting novel ideas heard and used by others in social contexts that were unsupportive of original thinking, disagreeableness hampered idea sharing and group collaboration in a positive environment supportive of creativity. Additionally, many empirical examinations (e.g., Shaw & Choi, 2023; Silvia et al, 2011) revealed no relationship between agreeableness and creativity. Perhaps as noted by Silvia et al (2011), agreeableness as a multifaceted trait has an unsystematic, complex relationship with creativity in the literature, and it is likely that significant facet-criterion relations get obscured when the general personality construct is assessed (Tett et al, 2003).…”

How to unleash innovative work behavior of SMEs workers through clan culture? “Testing the mediating role of knowledge sharing”

“…Previous research has consistently demonstrated the significant influence of perceived supervisory support (PSS) on employees’ IWB (Bak, 2020). Providing high levels of timely support to employees enhances their sense of value, empowerment and confidence, positively affecting their willingness to engage in innovative behaviors (Basu and Green, 1997; Bos-Nehles and Veenendaal, 2019; Shaw and Choi, 2023). When supervisors promptly and appropriately respond to employees’ support needs, it boosts their motivation, job satisfaction and commitment to innovation (Mishra et al , 2019).…”

“…Not only trust, but perceived support also influences KS. When employees perceive support from their superiors in sharing knowledge, they are more motivated to actively participate in KS (Basu and Green, 1997; Shaw and Choi, 2023). This fosters open channels of communication and enhances accessibility to innovative knowledge.…”