Mood States and Everyday Creativity: Employing an Experience Sampling Method and a Day Reconstruction Method

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Innovation Management

Background:

• Understanding the link between mood and creativity is vital for fostering innovation in organizations.
• Previous research has explored this relationship, but daily fluctuations and measurement methods require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the relationship between various mood states and everyday creativity.
• To compare the efficacy of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) in assessing mood-creativity dynamics.
• To provide empirical evidence for innovation promotion strategies in organizational management.

Main Methods:

• A 15-day follow-up study involving 31 corporate employees.
• Simultaneous application of ESM (three daily mood/creativity reports) and DRM (daily recall of major events and associated moods/creativity).
• Collection of 935 valid ESM measurements and 1260 valid DRM measurements.

Main Results:

• Highly active, positive moods (happiness, concentration, feeling active/interested) significantly correlated with higher creativity.
• Low-activity, negative moods (tiredness, sleepiness) were associated with lower creativity.
• ESM and DRM yielded largely consistent results regarding mood states and everyday creativity.

Conclusions:

• Active, positive moods are conducive to everyday creativity, while fatigue diminishes it.
• The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) is a reliable and less burdensome alternative to ESM for mood-creativity research.
• Findings support the use of DRM for future studies and offer insights for organizational innovation strategies.