Motivating Creativity in Organizations: On Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do
Abstract
Creativity in all fields, including business, flourishes under intrinsic motivation—the drive to do something because it is interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying, or personally challenging. This article presents the Componential Theory of Organizational Creativity and Innovation, which defines the factors—including intrinsic motivation—that determine a person's creativity. This article also shows how the work environment can influence individual creativity.
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Knowledge and skill about one's function is critical to creativity.
“This concurs with research that shows that knowledge and skill about one's function is critical to creativity (Amabile, 1997;Taggar, 2002).”
From Antecedents of Team Creativity: An Examination of Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Trust and Collaborative Culture (2010) · cites this paper as Amabile, 1997
Compassion is not an element of creativity.
“This supports research which indicates that compassion is not an element of creativity (Amabile, 1997;Taggar, 2002).”
From Antecedents of Team Creativity: An Examination of Team Emotional Intelligence, Team Trust and Collaborative Culture (2010) · cites this paper as Amabile, 1997
Cites
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Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation.
Deci, E. L. (1971) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0030644 · Cited by 4,170 · see citing works
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Blind variation and selective retentions in creative thought as in other knowledge processes
Campbell, D. T. (1960) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0040373 · Cited by 2,329 · see citing works
Amabile, T. M. (1993) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/1053-4822(93)90012-s · Cited by 1,150 · cited 1× · see citing works
“But there is considerable evidence from field research that, under certain conditions, certain forms of extrinsic motivation may combine synergistically with intrinsic motivation, enhancing (or at least not undermining) the positive effects of intrinsic motivation on creativity.(24) For example, research in business o…”
BackgroundSelf-citationMeasuring the perceived support for innovation in organizations.
Siegel, S. M., & Kaemmerer, W. F. (1978) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.63.5.553 · Cited by 426 · see citing works
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Anderson, N., Potočnik, K., & Zhou, J. (2014) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206314527128 · Cited by 3,103 · see citing works
CREATIVE SELF-EFFICACY: ITS POTENTIAL ANTECEDENTS AND RELATIONSHIP TO CREATIVE PERFORMANCE.
Tierney, P., & Farmer, S. M. (2002) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.2307/3069429 · Cited by 2,787 · see citing works
Trust, Connectivity, and Thriving: Implications for Innovative Behaviors at Work
CARMELI, A., & SPREITZER, G. M. (2009) · The Journal of Creative Behavior · doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.2009.tb01313.x · Cited by 551 · see citing works
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Barczak, G., Lassk, F., & Mulki, J. (2010) · Creativity and Innovation Management · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00574.x · Cited by 479 · see citing works
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Leader Self‐Reported Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Employee Creativity: An Exploratory Study
Rego, A., Sousa, F., Pina e Cunha, M., Correia, A., & Saur‐Amaral, I. (2007) · Creativity and Innovation Management · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8691.2007.00435.x · Cited by 218 · see citing works
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E-leadership effectiveness in virtual teams: Motivating language perspective.
Fan, K.-T., Chen, Y.-H., Wang, C.-W., & Chen, M. (2014) · Industrial Management & Data Systems · doi:10.1108/imds-07-2013-0294 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
How can Blockchain technology support patent management? A systematic literature review
Denter, N. M., Seeger, F., & Moehrle, M. G. (2023) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102506 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Creativity on tap? The effect of creativity anxiety under evaluative pressure
Bullock Muir, A., Tribe, B., & Forster, S. (2025) · Creativity Research Journal · doi:10.1080/10400419.2024.2330800 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Amabile, T. M.
- Corresponding author
- Amabile, Teresa M.
- ORCID
- Amabile, Teresa M.
- Venue
- California Management Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1997-10
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39-58
- ISSN
- 0008-1256 (ISSN-L)
- 2162-8564
- OpenAlex
- W1986344532
- Cited by
- 2,243
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 104 · 2024: 128 · 2023: 138 · 2022: 120 · 2021: 122 · 2020: 130 · 2019: 111 · 2018: 116 · 2017: 124 · 2016: 127 · 2015: 110 · 2014: 126 · 2013: 126 · 2012: 101
- FWCI
- 13.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- California Management Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Management and Innovation
- Keywords
- organizational creativity, intrinsic motivation, work environment, innovation, employee motivation, creativity factors
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