RESEARCH RADAR
“Can innovative work behaviour spur creativity while working remotely? The role of work–home conflict and social isolation” published in December 2022 in Management Research Review by Guido Bortoluzzi (MIB Core Faculty), Matej Černe (MIB Visiting Faculty) and Grazia Garlatti Costa.
Why this research
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees shifted to remote work, with various consequences for their family and working lives. This study focuses on the factors that affect their creativity while working from home. As individual creativity is shaped by context, the authors investigate the moderating role of the domestic environment on employees’ creative contributions while working remotely.
Methodology
The authors base the arguments on the complexity perspective of innovative work behaviour (IWB) and consider innovation a recursive process in which innovative behaviour can inform subsequent creative acts. The sudden spur of the pandemic interrupted the natural recursiveness of the creativity–innovation process and allowed them to empirically investigate the direct and indirect effects that levels of pre-pandemic IWB had on individuals’ creative behaviour. The authors hypothesise that this relationship is moderated by two resource-conserving contextual factors: work–home conflict and a feeling of social isolation. The participants were 803 employees from several Italian corporations. The data were collected during the first lockdown period (April–May 2020).Findings
The findings support the existence of a three-way interaction, suggesting that IWB affects further creative behaviours when both work–home conflict and social isolation are low.Key insight
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates what happened to employees’ creativity during the COVID-19 massive remote working situation. The results should be interpreted beyond the unique context because remote working will continue.Authors
Grazia Garlatti Costa, Ph.D.Assistant Professor (Non Tenured/RTDa) at University of Trieste.Guido Bortoluzzi, Ph.D. in BA, Associate Professor at University of Trieste and Core Faculty MIB Trieste School of Management in Marketing & Strategy.
Matej Černe, Ph.D. Associate Professor at University of Ljubljana and Visiting Faculty MIB Trieste School of management in Creative Work and Digital Transformation.
Useful links
Do more creative people maintain their creativity levels even when working remotely? Our data show that this is the case, despite two disturbing elements: the sense of isolation caused by the absence of direct contacts and the so-called work-family conflict, i.e. the need to consider family and work needs while working and create from home.
