Exploratory Study of Organizational Creativity in Creative Organizations

The creative industries represent an important and growing sector of the UK economy. This paper explores organizational creativity in firms within the creative industries. A questionnaire based on both Amabile's ‘Organizational Creativity’ model and Ekvall's ‘Creative Climate’ model was completed in ten firms in different sectors of the creative industries. Follow‐up interviews with five firms were also conducted, to compare the outputs from each model as well as the variation in responses from firms in different sectors. The results indicate that both models of organizational creativity are complementary, although not necessarily fully applicable in the creative industries. Specific differences between firms in the graphic design/branding sector and firms in product design were also observed.     

Lifestyle Meets Market: Bohemian Entrepreneurs in Creative Industries

By linking lifestyle studies with creative industries research, this article opens a new perspective on creativity and innovation management. We argue that artists in the creative industries have to bridge the gap between artistic work and the economic need for self‐management, and that a bohemian lifestyle essentially supports them in doing so. The bohemian lifestyle, which is characterized by a devotion to art for art’s sake, is an essential source for work motivation of artists and an increasing number of other creative workers. The article draws upon an empirical study into artistic work and employment in German theatres. Enacting a bohemian lifestyle enables actors as ‘bohemian entrepreneurs’ to integrate intensive self‐management and self‐marketing as well as subordination of private life to work into their artistic work life. Analysing the link between lifestyle and creative work is crucial for understanding the way in which creative workers become artists and, at the same time, entrepreneurs of their creative talent.     

Supporting creative and reflective processes

Creativity has long been seen as a mysterious process. A better understanding of the nature of creativity and the processes that underpin it are needed in order to be able to make contributions to the design of creativity support tools. In this paper, current theories of creativity and models of the creative process are discussed and an empirical study outlined of participants individually and collaboratively undertaking two creative tasks in different domains. The tasks ‘write a poem’ and ‘design a poster’ were carried out via two media; pen and paper and with the use of a computer and software tools. Schön's theory of reflection-in-action is applied to the study results. The research has generated software requirements for tools to support these specific creative tasks, and also initial design features to enable support for group reflection of evolving creative artefacts.     

The Early Bird Gets the Worm,But the Second Mouse Gets the Cheese: Non‐Technological Innovation in Creative Industries

In the context of economic turmoil, firms in the creative industries (CIs) must make fast decisions as to when to break through with innovations. This paper discusses non‐technological, organizational innovation of early‐adopters, first movers and early followers in order to overcome persistent economic decline, and the implication of different strategies for innovation success. The strategic principle of the pioneer's advantage rests on pre‐emption – the premise that ‘the early bird gets the worm’ and this often applies to business model innovation (BMI). ‘But the second mouse gets the cheese’ points at early followers who may have a more systematic, strategic approach towards innovation. Greater understanding of the advantages of each strategic approach and their significance for innovation performance is critical for CIs where unpredictability and the accelerating pace of change pervade the decisions concerning innovation. Drawing on five exemplary cases of archaeological firms in Spain, this paper explores different innovation process dynamics. The study develops a contingency model where pioneers who challenge their current business model, may be outperformed by early followers who incorporate complementary management innovation (MI) initiatives into the BMI.     

‘Resisting Creativity,Creating the New’. A Deleuzian Perspective on Creativity

Create/Innovate or die. This is the taken‐for‐granted ‘truth’ in the social, political and economic context in which we currently live. In fact, so accepted is this mantra that criticism seems foolish; mere evidence of the entrenched conservatism that needs to be challenged. This article posits an alternative view of creativity, drawing in particular on the thinking of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The writing of Deleuze is used to explore our understanding of creativity, in terms of what ‘creativity’ is (and what it is not), and the destructive (and sometimes pointless) nature of creativity. In doing so it is hoped that this article challenges clichéd representations of ‘creativity’, the typical ‘creativity is wonderful and we need a lot more of it . . .’ type arguments and assist scholars to become more creative (or at least more reflective) in their own practice.     

The Development of Creative Capabilities in and out of Creative Organizations: Three Case Studies

This paper describes and analyses how creative organizations develop and use routines and processes to strengthen their creative capabilities. Using an exploratory framework based in resource‐based theory and creativity literature, it focuses on the role of the creative entrepreneur as a key component for organizations developing creative capabilities. The creative entrepreneur or agent builds collaboration, exploits knowledge and enhances relationships in and out of an organization. Drawing on three in‐depth case studies from different sectors (theatre, sports and software), the article expands the idea of creative capabilities to encompass routines and processes in organizations in industries generally not considered ‘creative’. Furthermore, it outlines how the creative entrepreneur is instrumental in developing and using the creative routines so that they form creative capabilities. Based on the analysis, the article discusses creative capabilities, collaboration in the process, and the creative entrepreneur’s role in developing and using them.     

Interpretive Style,Motivation, Ability and Context as Predictors of Executives’ Creative Performance

Creativity has overtaken financial capital as the principal constraint facing businesses. Upper-level executives must, therefore, be able to develop creative solutions to strategic and administrative issues in order for firms to remain viable. Executive creativity not only contributes directly to corporate differentiation and innovation, it also helps create an environment that encourages, or perhaps requires, creative contributions from others. Executives are critically important knowledge workers that direct and enable the creative efforts of intellectual assets within a firm. Unfortunately, few empirical studies have sought to examine the creativity of knowledge workers beyond the narrow confines of basic research or R&D labs. This article presents an initial empirical test of an integrative theory of creative individual work performance in the domain of executive work. The study shows that by simultaneously considering executives’ interpretive style, motivation to pursue creative outcomes, creative ability, and work setting one can explain substantial variation in executives’ creative work performance.     

Decentring the Creative Self: How Others Make Creativity Possible in Creative Professional Fields

Since its inception, the psychology of creativity has been concerned primarily with the study of individual creators. In contrast, this research is dedicated to an exploration of (a) who has a significant impact on a creative professional's activity and (b) what the contribution is that others make to creative outcomes. The research included interviews with 60 professionals working in science and creative industries in France. The following categories of others emerged: family and friends, peers and students, clients and funders, critics and gatekeepers, and the general public – and they were related to themes depicting the interaction between these different others and the creator. Findings reveal both similarities and differences across the five domains in terms of the specific contribution of others to the creative process. Social interactions play a key formative, regulatory, motivational and informational role in relation to creative work. From ‘internalized’ to ‘distant’, other people are an integral part of the equation of creativity calling for a de‐centring of the creative self and its re‐centring in a social space of actions and interactions.     

Creative Cities and Regions: The Case for Local Economic Diversity

In their recent discussion of the Richard Florida and Jane Jacobs‐inspired ‘creative cities’ policy literature, Hospers and Pen argue that despite increasingly more effective ‘space shrinking’ technologies, cities remain among the most suitable locations for creative activities of all types. This paper supplements their contribution by documenting more concretely how economically diversified cities provide a fertile environment for the discovery and development of new technological combinations. In doing so, we try to illustrate how a better understanding of the linkages between creativity and urban agglomeration would benefit from a multidisciplinary approach that studies both phenomena simultaneously.     

A framework for understanding creativity in requirements engineering

Creativity is important in the discovery and analysis of user and business requirements to achieve innovative uses of information and communication technologies. This paper builds a theoretical framework for understanding creativity in requirements engineering. The framework provides a systematic means of understanding creativity in requirements engineering and comprises five elements (product, process, domain, people and socio-organisational context). The framework provides researchers with a sound basis for exploring how the five elements of creativity can be incorporated within RE methods and techniques to support creative requirements engineering. It provides practitioners with a systematic means of creating environments that nurture and develop creative people, cognitive and collaborative processes and products.     

How Individualism-Collectivism Moderates the Effects of Rewards on Creativity and Innovation: A Comparative Review of Practices in Japan and the US

Recent research has shown that the relationship between rewards and creative performance is complex: while rewards increase creativity in some situations, they are detrimental to creative performance in others. The present paper explores the role of cross-cultural differences in moderating some effects of rewards on creativity and innovation. I focus on individualism-collectivism and its related differences in motivation, cognition and emotion. I then propose five ways in which differences in I-C between Japan and the US moderate the effects of incentives on creative performance and innovation in these nations. Specifically, I claim that organizations in individualistic and collectivist cultures differ on: Effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation, effects of in-group versus out-group controlled rewards, effects of group vs. individual based incentives, reactions to in-group and out-group competition, and the effects of members’ identification with the organization on their innovation efforts. The notion of ‘congruence’ is offered as a theoretical framework for explaining the proposed ideas. Recommendations and implications of these prepositions for management of creativity in a cross-cultural work force are discussed.     

Art,Work and Art Work

This paper introduces a novel method for investigating the interfaces between art work and managerial work in the creative industries. The method, which we are calling dispraxis, seeks to transcend the traditional divisions between the academic world and the world of practice. This particular dispraxis is a structured, iterative dialogue between an academic, a manager, and an artist on the themes identified in the call for papers. In this dispraxis the following four themes were elicited. The first theme centred on the explosion of management discourse into the creative industries. The second theme explored the difference between the creative industries and ‘normal’ business and introduced the metaphor of chelation to describe the primary need to manage and protect safe spaces for creativity to happen. The third theme was money and this theme explored how art is valued and funded, especially in a postmodern world where the notion of authenticity and Taste have been problematised. The fourth theme discussed how art is routinely identified as the highest expression of human achievement and yet is largely ignored in commercial discourse. One explanation for this is to consider artistic work as part of the abject. The metaphor of origami is used to gather together the various themes explored in the dispraxis.     

Reality bites: Managing identity ambiguity in an advertising agency

Creative industries provide a challenging environment for management, especially given the ambiguities inherent in these environments and the need to balance creative work with mundane, yet supportive practices of organizations. Within these environments there are a large number of individuals with high identity needs such as the Creatives, and management must thus balance the needs of these Creatives with those of other organizational actors, including those responsible for allegedly ‘non‐creative’ processes. This paper examines an Australian advertising agency and demonstrates how individuals and groups within the organization handle ambiguities and tensions inherent to their work. The case study shows how management provides structures and support in order to allow for heedful interactions between two oppositional dimensions of the environment. Therefore managerial action and instituted processes serve to strike a balance between the creative and non‐creative work and to guide individuals and groups towards meaningful outcomes.     

A View on Creative Cities Beyond the Hype

Fuelled by the influential work of urban guru Richard Florida, the European knowledge economy is seeing a rise of cities calling themselves ‘creative cities’. In this paper we have a look at the concept of creative cities and offer a view on them beyond the hype. We understand ‘creative cities’ as competitive urban areas that combine both concentration, diversity, instability as well as a positive image. Examples of creative cities in history and recent best practice of two such urban areas in Europe (Øresund and Manchester) show that local governments cannot plan knowledge, creativity and innovation from scratch. We conclude, however, that local governments can increase the chance that urban creativity emerges by providing the appropriate framework conditions.     

Motives for strategic alliances in cultural and creative industries

Cultural and creative industries are gaining importance in Western economies. In these industries, as in several other business sectors, micro‐firms, i.e., firms that employ fewer than ten employees, are the predominant firm type. As these industries have become an integral part of most economies, the literature has started to explore the strategic behavior of cultural and creative micro‐firms. Although micro‐firms are characterized by certain specificities that can affect how likely they are to engage in external relationships, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning collaboration through strategic alliances in this specific context. Seeking to advance the understanding of partnerships between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries, the purpose of this article is to reveal the specific motives for engaging in strategic alliances in this context. In doing so, we focus on six case studies of strategic alliances between micro‐firms in cultural and creative industries in France. Our results show that strategic alliances involving creative micro‐firms seek the reduction of overspecialization, target a high degree of quality of life and pleasure at work, and are envisaged only if there is trust and mutual support among the partners. Moreover, opportunism and necessity motivations guide the creative micro‐firms' decision to enter strategic alliances.     

The Designer's Self-Identity — Myths of Creativity and the Management of Teams1

This paper describes recent research conducted at Sheffield Hallam University in which practising designers reported on their experiences of working in a cross functional team. The survey related these experiences to the designers' attitudes to their creativity. Two models for creativity are proposed—one based on the romantic stereotype of the creative genius, the other taking creativity to be an attribute possessed by all human beings in some measure, which can be enhanced by personal effort or by training. Identifying features of cross functional teams which are likely to demand certain personal qualities in designers, the paper notes that these are at odds with the qualities of a ‘romantic-type’ creative person. The link between these qualities, and notions of personality as a set of fixed attributes is pointed out. Several theories of personality which describe mechanisms for change in self identity are described. It is noted that the results of the survey suggest that in many cases designers have a pragmatic attitude to their creativity, despite the prevalence of the romantic stereotype for creativity in the literature of both management and education. Principles are suggested for design education, to enable designers to re-evaluate creativity reflexively as a component of their self identity to enhance their performance as teamworkers.     

The Creation and Management of Cultural Clusters

This paper analyses two cultural clusters, the Westergasfabriek (WGF) in Amsterdam and the Witte de Withstraat (WdW) in Rotterdam, and evaluates their contrasting creative management strategies. The WGF has to date been fairly successful in creating an attractive mix of different cultural activities, based on the creative potential of the buildings on the site, its image as a cultural centre and the general atmosphere of creativity. The more ‘top–down’ approach of the Local Authority owned but commercially managed WFG has injected new commercial skills and investment into the cluster, and creates the conditions for innovation through managing the mix of creative functions. The WdW, on the other hand, takes a more ‘bottom–up’ approach to the problems of cultural management, and so far the participants have resisted the imposition of formal management. This may allow cultural and commercial functions to co–exist more easily, but, thus far, there seems to be less evidence of innovation.     

An Exploratory Study of Entrepreneurial Creativity: Its Antecedents and Mediators in the Context of UAE Firms

In this study, we attempt to advance our understanding of the role of entrepreneurial creativity in the context of firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Through field research accompanied by a review of the related literature, this study identifies crucial antecedents of entrepreneurial creativity. The proposed model combines variables belonging to different contextual factors such as external factors (resource access, resource possession, and alertness to opportunity) and individual factors (creative self‐efficacy, expertise and intrinsic motivation). The model is tested using data from a large‐scale survey of firms in the UAE. We find that expertise and creative self‐efficacy is significantly related to entrepreneurial creativity. The results also reveal that intrinsic motivation and alertness to opportunity are the key mediators between contextual factors and entrepreneurial creativity. The findings of this study present some interesting practical implications to entrepreneurs in order to improve their creative skills.     

Creativity and Innovation through Multidisciplinary and Multisectoral Cooperation

This paper explores the relation between creativity, innovation and new product development in multidisciplinary and multisectoral settings. We claim that the development of innovative products benefits from the generation of a high number of creative ideas. Moreover, we argue that the idea generation process can be particularly fruitful within collaborative multidisciplinary environments, where firms and Science and Technology institutions coexist and cooperate. Our approach draws on existing literature to investigate the creativity and idea generation process within the frame of multisectoral and multidisciplinary cooperation initiatives, involving firms and Science and Technology related institutions. We then call upon our own empirical work to identify conditions favourable to those processes and some issues that affect the fulfilment of the creative potential that exists in multidisciplinary groups.