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Fostering team creativity: perspective taking as key to unlocking diversity's potential
Inga J Hoever1, Daan van Knippenberg, Wendy P van Ginkel
1Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. ihoever@rsm.nl
The Journal of Applied Psychology
|July 11, 2012
Summary
Diverse teams are more creative when members practice perspective taking, which enhances information elaboration. This strategy unlocks diversity
Area of Science:
- Organizational Psychology
- Team Dynamics
- Creativity Studies
Background:
- Team creativity is vital for organizations, but fostering conditions are unclear.
- Diversity's impact on team creativity is inconsistent.
- Perspective taking may mediate diversity's effect on creativity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the moderating role of perspective taking in the diversity-creativity relationship.
- To explore the mediating role of information elaboration.
- To provide empirical support for a theoretical model.
Main Methods:
- Laboratory experiment with teams.
- Manipulation of diversity and perspective taking.
- Measurement of team creativity and information elaboration.
Main Results:
- A significant interaction between diversity and perspective taking on team creativity was found.
- Diverse teams showed higher creativity with perspective taking than without.
- Information elaboration mediated the effect of perspective taking on creativity.
Conclusions:
- Perspective taking is a key mechanism for leveraging diversity's creative potential.
- Fostering perspective taking can enhance team creativity in diverse groups.
- Information elaboration is crucial for translating diversity into creativity.
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