Creative at Each Age: Age-Related Differences in Drivers of Workplace Creativity from an Experience Sampling Study

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Judith Volmer - , University of Bamberg (Author)
  • Stefanie Richter - , University of Bamberg (Author)
  • Christine J. Syrek - , University of Bamberg (Author)

Abstract

Creativity and innovation are essential agents for change processes and accelerating technical development. Having to face challenges, such as demographic change, organizations require individuals who are creative and innovative at each age. Previous research identified affect as a crucial determinant of creativity, even though empirical findings showed inconsistencies. Drawing on literature on age-related changes in affective experiences, we investigated the moderating effect of employees’ age on the association between daily positive and negative affect and creativity using a daily diary study. A total of 116 employees responded to daily questionnaires twice a day over five consecutive working days. As expected, hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed differential effects regarding the affect-creativity association, dependent on employees’ age. Although older employees were most creative on days when they experienced a high level of positive affect (compared to their mean level of positive affect), younger employees were particularly creative when experiencing negative affect (compared to their mean level of negative affect). We discuss practical implications on how organizations could provide creativity-enhancing work environments for employees at each age.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)531-545
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Creative Behavior
Volume53
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-1218-4607/work/142256742

Keywords

Keywords

  • affective states, age, creativity, diary study, negative affect, positive affect