When openness to experience and conscientiousness are related to creative behavior: An interactional approach.

TLDR

Openness to experience is theorized to increase creative behavior, while conscientiousness is theorized to reduce it when situational conditions permit trait expression. The study investigates how openness to experience and conscientiousness influence workplace creative behavior using an interactional framework. The authors hypothesize that positive feedback and heuristic tasks amplify openness-driven creativity, whereas close monitoring and unsupportive coworkers suppress conscientiousness-driven creativity. In a sample of office workers, five of six hypotheses were supported.

Abstract

This study adopted an interactional approach to understanding how 2 of the Five-Factor traits, openness to experience and conscientiousness, are related to creative behavior in the workplace. Openness to experience is theorized to result in high levels of creative behavior and conscientiousness is theorized to result in low levels of creative behavior when the situation allows for the manifestation of the trait influences. More specifically, the authors hypothesized that openness to experience would result in high levels of creative behavior if feedback valence were positive and job holders were presented with a heuristic task that allowed them to be creative. The authors also hypothesized that conscientiousness would result in low levels of creative behavior if supervisors engaged in close monitoring and coworkers were unsupportive. The authors tested their hypotheses in a sample of office workers, and 5 out of the 6 hypotheses were supported.