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Rethinking creativity: three case studies of the social processes of creativity
Creativity and innovation are often seen as being important in terms of organisations, not only dealing with large amounts of change, but also being able to flourish in uncertain times. Yet, despite large amounts of creativity research, it continues to be a contested subject and fragmented field which leaves researchers without clear direction. Thus the approach to studying creativity needs to be rethought in order to develop new insights into the phenomenon. This research contributes to the debate on creativity by developing concepts around how creativity unfolds within a specific social context. It does this by approaching the study of creativity from a critical perspective and conducting a series of case studies into creativity in organisations. This research finds that, while the production of an artefact is a prerequisite, creativity is not an enduring feature of a given artefact. Rather, creativity exists when an artefact is labelled creative within a particular social system. In addition, as part of the interpretive research process, aspects of identity work emerged. Exploration of creativity as part of the process of identity work provides novel insight into creativity and a conceptual map which may be utilized as part of ongoing research into creativity. This research makes a significant contribution to the understanding of creativity by unpacking the processes of creativity, in three diverse organisational settings, and showing how creativity may be conceptualised as a contextually bound, socially constructed label which is underpinned by identity related motives.
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Event
European Group for Organizational Studies. Colloquium (30th : 2014 : Rotterdam, The Netherlands)Pagination
1 - 30Publisher
Rottenham School of ManagementLocation
Rotterdam, The NetherlandsPlace of publication
Rotterdam, The NetherlandsStart date
2014-07-03End date
2016-03-05Language
engPublication classification
E Conference publication; E1.1 Full written paper - refereedCopyright notice
2014, Rotterdam School of ManagementTitle of proceedings
EGOS 2014 : Reimagining, rethinking, reshaping: organizational scholarship in unsettled times. Proceedings of the 30th European Group for Organizational Studies ColloquiumUsage metrics
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