Better to give than to receive (or seek) help? The interpersonal dynamics of maintaining a reputation for creativity

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Authors
Carnevale, Joel B.
Huang, Lei
Vincent, Lynne C.
Farmer, Steven M.
Wang, Lin
Advisors
Issue Date
2021-11-01
Type
Article
Keywords
Employee creativity , Impression management , Creative reputation maintenance concerns , Helping behavior
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Carnevale, J. B., Huang, L., Vincent, L. C., Farmer, S., & Wang, L. (2021). Better to give than to receive (or seek) help? The interpersonal dynamics of maintaining a reputation for creativity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 167, 144-156. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2021.08.006
Abstract

Prior research suggests that the broader social environment in which employees develop, refine, and share their ideas is crucial in promoting creativity. But employees might not always be willing to interact with their coworkers in ways conducive to the development of creative outcomes, particularly if they become overly concerned about establishing and preserving others’ perceptions of their creative ability. Using both field and experimental studies, we integrate the impression management framework and the creativity-relevant helping literatures to investigate the psychological pressures and calculative interpersonal behaviors that stem from employees’ engagement in creative work. Results across three studies provide converging evidence that, due to the arousal of creative reputation maintenance concerns (CRMC), creative individuals (relative to their less creative counterparts) engage in less creativity help-seeking and more creativity help-giving, and these effects are strengthened when individuals have previously received help from others. We discuss the implications and limitations of this work and provide future research directions.

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Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Book Title
Series
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes;Vol. 167
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
0749-5978
EISSN