Developing creative competence at work: The reciprocal effects of creative thinking, self-efficacy and organizational culture on creative performance

Organizations must consciously unleash creativity and innovation to meet the escalating competitive challenges of today's dynamic business environment. Creativity can lead to continuous improvements and/or radical innovation, both critical to sustain a market advantage. Every employee possesses creative potential and the ability to contribute more fully to an organization's success. Developing this creative potential at work through individual initiative and organizational reinforcement is key.; A model for Creative Competence emerged from an extensive literature review that incorporated several theories in new ways. The model is based upon Bandura's (1986; 1997) theory of self-efficacy and triadic reciprocal causation. Accordingly, creativity and innovation-related factors are identified from theories of creativity, thought self-leadership and organizational culture to reflect personal and cognitive; behavioral; and environmental contributors to creative competence at work.; First, creativity is defined. Then, five constructs that reflect these creativity-related factors are identified. The construct Creative Confidence (CC) is equated with creative self-efficacy perceptions. The other constructs include: (a) Organizational Creative Culture (OCC); (b) Creative Style Preference (CSP) on a continuum from Adaptor to Innovator, and Creative-Self Leadership (C-SL), based upon Thought Self-Leadership theory; and (c) Creative Performance (CP), based upon creativity theory. Each construct is comprised of several variables.; The literature presents the case that both the employee and the organization must share responsibility to consciously ignite, harness, and lead individual and organizational creative capacity, rather than leave it to chance. The individual must engage in proactive, practical creative-thought self-leadership. The organization is charged with promoting a creative culture and leaders that model, foster, and reinforce individual and team creativity.; A quantitative study of the Creative Competence model was conducted. A 70-item survey was developed to answer five research questions. The survey was administered to two groups that reflected training versus no training conditions. Subjects were working students who were attending an innovative masters level program in psychology with classes held one weekend each month, while working concurrently in diverse organizations.; Statistically significant results based upon correlational tests were found for eight of ten hypotheses. Results indicated positive relationships between the following variables: (a) CC and CP; (b) C-SL and CC; (c) CP and C-SL; (d) OCC Constructive Feedback and CC; (e) CP Task Engagement and OCC Constructive Feedback; (f) C-SL and Creative-SuperLeadership; (g) OCC C-SL Training and C-SL, and (h) CSP tending toward Innovator can be positively correlated with CC in some situations, most likely in the short-term. With respect to Organizational Creative Culture, Constructive Feedback given by self and others had a stronger impact on CC than did C-SL Training. One year of progressive skill training in C-SL techniques was insufficient to significantly raise CC levels in this context, without providing for concrete enactive creativity mastery experience. Reasoning for these findings is discussed in detail. Levels of CC, C-SL and CP were positively related to age with profound implications in the workplace.; These findings support the merit of developing Creative Competence at work by building CC, CSL, CP and a culture that fosters creativity and innovation. Conducting similar studies in the actual organizational context was suggested for future research to substantiate findings and for generalizability. Extending the study beyond self-perceptions by using 360-feedback from supervisors, peers and direct reports would be valuable to further this groundbreaking research.