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Creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in team contexts: cross-level interactions with team informational
Andreas W Richter1, Giles Hirst, Daan van Knippenberg
1Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. a.richter@jbs.cam.ac.uk
The Journal of Applied Psychology
|July 18, 2012
Summary
Higher creative self-efficacy enhances individual creativity when teams possess strong shared knowledge of who knows what (KWKW) and diverse functional backgrounds. This highlights the importance of both individual confidence and team resources for innovation.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Creativity Studies
- Team Dynamics
Background:
- Creative self-efficacy is a key individual trait influencing creative performance.
- Team informational resources, including knowledge sharing and diversity, are crucial for innovation.
- The interplay between individual creative self-efficacy and team resources remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the cross-level relationship between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity.
- To examine the moderating roles of shared "knowledge of who knows what" (KWKW) and functional background diversity in this relationship.
Main Methods:
- A multi-level study was conducted with 176 employees across 34 R&D teams in a multinational company.
- Data were collected from employees working in 4 different countries.
- Statistical analyses examined the interactive effects of creative self-efficacy and team resources on individual creativity.
Main Results:
- Creative self-efficacy positively influenced individual creativity, especially when shared KWKW was high.
- The positive link between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity was stronger in teams with high functional background diversity.
- An interaction was found where shared KWKW amplified the positive effect of creative self-efficacy on creativity, particularly in diverse teams.
Conclusions:
- Team informational resources significantly moderate the relationship between creative self-efficacy and individual creativity.
- Both shared knowledge of expertise (KWKW) and functional diversity enhance creativity, especially for individuals with high creative self-efficacy.
- Findings suggest that fostering both individual creative confidence and rich team informational resources is vital for maximizing innovation in R&D teams.
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