Unlocking and closing the gender gap in creative performance: A multilevel model

Abstract

Summary Building upon and extending the interactionist perspective of creativity, social role theory, and role congruity theory, we develop an integrated multilevel model to examine gender differences in creative self‐efficacy and determine how the contextual factor of team psychological safety shapes employees' creative self‐efficacy and, through this motivational mechanism, influences their creative performance. Using data from a sample of 335 employees from a large food manufacturer collected over three time periods, we theorize and demonstrate the pivotal role of creative self‐efficacy in explaining gender differences in creative performance. Our findings indicate that women may have lower creative self‐efficacy than men in organizational contexts. However, team psychological safety restores parity between men and women through a cross‐level moderated mediation, such that psychological safety has a stronger effect on women's creative self‐efficacy than that of men, resulting in increased creative performance for women. These findings offer interesting implications for research on gender differences in creative performance and for human resources by pinpointing methods of bridging the existent differences in the creative self‐efficacy of men and women in organizations.

A meta-analytic examination of the gender difference in creative performance.

“…Therefore, to resolve this challenge, steps must be taken to ensure women believe that their creative efforts are as situationally appropriate as those of their male counterparts. Psychologically safe work climates have emerged as one method by which this can be accomplished (Hora et al, 2021), and our research similarly showed that cultures that value communion featuring civility and concern for others may serve to reduce the gender gap.…”

“…Put differently, the internalization of gender stereotypes could curb women's self-confidence and motivation to invest in creative endeavors, affording fewer opportunities to excel. Consistent with this theorizing, despite exhibiting similar creative abilities, past work has shown that women possess lower creative self-efficacy (Hora et al, 2021) and diminished "self-expectations for creativity" (Carmeli & Schaubroeck, 2007). Altogether, women's internalization of gendered roles and expectations may limit their expectancy and effort to engage in creative performance, regardless of their creative ability.…”

“…That is, as women’s attributes meet the situational demands of a relational culture (Choi, 2004; Edwards, 1996), their self-ratings of creative performance and perceivers’ evaluations of that performance may increase. Relational cultures are likely to offer supportive environments where women generally feel psychologically safe and empowered to generate and voice creative ideas—allowing them freedom to engage in the creative process and subsequently be seen as creative performers (Hora et al, 2021; Koopmann et al, 2016; Zhang & Bartol, 2010). Walton and Kemmelmeier (2012) provide evidence for the benefits of such person–environment fit as women received higher ratings of objective creative performance when operating in situations characterized by collectivistic norms.…”

“…Both of these perspectives focus on the agentic and communal nature of tasks, which are relevant in that creativity is imbued with an undercurrent of agency that is stereotypically ascribed to men but not women (i.e., creativity involves risk-taking and challenging the status quo, often in an assertive and independent manner; Dewett, 2006; Luksyte et al, 2018; Proudfoot et al, 2015). Social role theory suggests that this perceived masculine focus of creative performance misaligns with the female gender role, potentially causing women to lack belief in their creativity abilities, put forth less effort on creative tasks, or judge their own creative performance too harshly (Eagly & Karau, 2002; Hora et al, 2021). Role congruity theory further suggests that ratings of women’s work in agentic activities (such as creativity) may also be prejudiced due to backlash effects (Heilman et al, 2004; Lebuda & Karwowski, 2013).…”

How Does the Optimism of Students Learning a Foreign Language Affect Their Creative Self-Efficacy? The Mediating Effects of Hope and Empathy

“…The Creative Self-efficacy Scale ( Tierney and Farmer, 2002 ) was used to measure creativity in FL learners with four items (e.g., “I have confidence in my ability to solve problems creatively”). This scale has been used in various fields including business, economics, and education ( Gong et al, 2009 ; Puente-Díaz, 2016 ; Hora et al, 2021 ) and has shown good psychometric properties in different countries ( Liu et al, 2017 ; Alvarez-Huerta et al, 2021 ). This scale can measure the following three aspects of FLL students: (i) whether they have confidence in overcoming difficulties encountered in the process of FLL by finding innovative methods; (ii) whether they are conscious of absorbing the good learning experiences of others so as to create their own FLL approaches; and (iii) whether they can constantly come up with new ways to meet the challenges in FLL.…”