Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-pnlb5 Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2025-10-31T14:20:59.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Culture and the Assessment of Creativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Paul S. Hempel  and
Christina Sue-Chan
Paul S. Hempel
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Christina Sue-Chan
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Laboratory studies of culture and creativity typically rely upon measures of divergent thinking while studies of creativity in organizational settings explicitly define creativity and use subject matter experts as assessors to account for the influence of culture on the assessment of creativity. Yet, little is known about what specific characteristics of a creative idea are considered when creativity is assessed by communities of experts (the field) in different spheres of creative activities (domain). In this article, we review, conceptually analyse, and illustrate using original interview data the influence of culture on the assessment of two commonly examined dimensions of overall creativity, novelty, and usefulness. Using the context of expatriates, we propose a framework, along with propositions, that integrates cultural experience, creativity criteria, and assessor perspectives on creativity assessment. Finally, we discuss ways in which a focus upon the processes underlying creativity assessments could help advance research on culture and creativity.

Keywords

assessment of creativityChinacreativity创造力评估中国创造力

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 415 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Amabile, T. M. 1982. Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(5): 997–1013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amabile, T. M. 1983. Social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(2): 357–376.Google Scholar
Amabile, T. M. 1996. Creativity in context: Update to ‘The social psychology of creativity’. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., & Herron, M. 1996. Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5): 1154–1184.Google Scholar
Baer, M., & Oldham, G. R. 2006. The curvilinear relation between experienced time pressure and creativity: Moderating effects of openness to experience and support for creativity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4): 963–970.Google Scholar
Barton, J. H. 2004. Issues posed by a world patent system. Journal of International Economic Law, 7(2): 341–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, J. W. 1980. Acculturation as varieties of adaptation. In Padilla, A. M. (Ed.), Acculturation: Theory, models and some new findings (AAAS Selected Symposium 39): 9–25. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Binnie-Dawson, J. L., & Choi, P. P. 1982. A study of perceptual and cultural cues in Chinese and Western paintings. Psychologia: An InternationalJournal of Psychology in the Orient, 25(1): 18–31.Google Scholar
Chan, D. W., & Chan, L. K. 1999. Implicit theories of creativity: Teachers' perception of student characteristics in Hong Kong. Creativity Research Journal, 12(3): 185–195.Google Scholar
Cheng, C. Y., Sanders, M., Sanchex-Burks, J., Molina, K., Lee, F., Darling, E., & Zhao, Y. 2008. Reaping the rewards of diversity: The role of identity integration. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3): 1182–1198.Google Scholar
Chua, R., Morris, M. W., & Mor, S. 2010. Collaborating across cultures: Cultural meta-cognition, affect-based trust, and creative collaboration. Unpublished manuscript, Columbia University, New York.Google Scholar
Claus, L., & Briscoe, D. 2009. Employee performance management across borders: A review of relevant academic literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 11(2): 175–196.Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1997. Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper-Collins.Google Scholar
De Dreu, C. K. W., Baas, M., & Nijstad, B. A. 2008. Hedonic tone and activation level in the mood-creativity link: Toward a dual pathway to creativity model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5): 739–756.Google Scholar
DeNisi, A. S. 1996. Cognitive approach to performance appraisal: A program of research. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Doody, P. 2006. The patent system is not broken. Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, 18(2): 10–24.Google Scholar
Earley, P. C., & Gibson, C. B. 2002. Multinational teams: New perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsbach, K. D., & Kramer, R. M. 2003. Assessing creativity in Hollywood pitch meetings: Evidence for a dual-process model of creativity judgments. Academy of ManagementJournal, 46(3): 283–301.Google Scholar
Erez, M., & Nouri, R. 2010. Creativity: The influence of cultural, social, and work contexts. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 351–370.Google Scholar
George, J., & Zhou, J. 2001. When openness to experience and conscientiousness are related to creative behavior: An interactional approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3): 513–524.Google Scholar
Ghose, D. A. 2007. A proposal to modify the utility standard for patenting biotechnology research tools. Emory Law Journal, 56(6): 1661–1700.Google Scholar
Hempel, P. S. 2001. Differences between Chinese and Western managerial views of performance. Personnel Review, 30(2): 203–226.Google Scholar
Hempel, P. S., & Kwong, Y. K. 2001. B2B e-commerce in emerging economies: I-metal corn's nonferrous metals exchange in China. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 10(4): 335–355.Google Scholar
Hempel, P. S., & Martinsons, M. G. 2009. Developing international organizational change theory using cases from China. Human Relations, 62(4): 459–499.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. E., May, K. E., & Whitney, K. 1995. Understanding the dynamics of diversity in decision-making teams. In Guzzo, R. & Salas, E. (Eds.), Team effectiveness and decision making in organizations: 204–261. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Lehman, B. A. 2001. The leadership of the USA in the filed of intellectual property. Business Perspectives, 13(14): 16–27.Google Scholar
Leung, A. K.-Y., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., & Chiu, C. Y. 2008. Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how. American Psychologist, 63(3): 169–181.Google Scholar
Maddux, W. W., & Galinsky, A. D. 2009. Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5): 1047–1061.Google Scholar
Maddux, W. W., Leung, A. K.-Y., Chiu, C. Y., & Galinsky, A. D. 2009. Towards a more complete understanding of the link between multicultural experience and creativity. American Psychologist, 64(2): 156–158.Google Scholar
Miron, E., Erez, M., & Naveh, E. 2004. Do personal characteristics and cultural values that promote innovation, quality, and efficiency compete or complement each other? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25: 175–199.Google Scholar
Mok, A., & Morris, M. W. 2010. Asian-Americans' creative styles in Asian and American situations: Assimilative and contrastive responses as a function of bicultural identity integration. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 371–390.Google Scholar
Murphy, K. R., & Cleveland, J. N. 1995. Understanding performance appraisal: Social, organizational, and goal-based perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Niu, W., & Sternberg, R. 2001. Cultural influence of artistic creativity and its evaluation. International Journal of Psychology, 36(4): 225–241.Google Scholar
Niu, W., & Sternberg, R. 2002. Contemporary studies on the concept of creativity: The East and the West. Journal of Creative Behavior, 36(4): 269–288.Google Scholar
Nouri, R., Erez, M., Rockstuhl, T., & Ang, S. 2008. Creativity in multicultural teams: The effects of cultural diversity and situational strength on creative performance. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Conference, Anaheim, CA.Google Scholar
O'Malley, M., Bostanci, A., & Calvert, J. 2005. Whole-genome patenting. Perspectives, 6: 502–507.Google Scholar
Oldham, G. R., & Cummings, A. 1996. Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work. Academy of Management Journal, 39(3): 607–634.Google Scholar
Paletz, S. B. F., & Peng, K. 2008. Implicit theories of creativity across cultures: Novelty and appropriateness in two product domains. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(3): 286–302.Google Scholar
Rudowicz, E. 2003. Creativity and culture: A two way interaction. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 47(3): 273–290.Google Scholar
Rudowicz, E., & Hui, A. 1997. The creative personality: Hong Kong perspective. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 12(1): 139–157.Google Scholar
Rudowicz, E., & Yue, X. D. 2000. Concepts of creativity: Similarities and differences among Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese Chinese. Journal of Creative Behavior, 34: 175–192.Google Scholar
Rudowicz, E., Lok, D., & Kitto, J. 1995. Use of the Torrance Tests of Creativity Thinking in an exploratory study of creativity in Hong Kong primary school children: A cross-cultural comparison. International Journal of Psychology, 30(4): 417–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runco, M. A., & Bahleda, M. D. 1986. Implicit theories of artistic, scientific, and everyday creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 20(2): 93–98.Google Scholar
Shalley, C. E., & Perry-Smith, J. E. 2001. Effects of social-psychological factors on creative performance: The role of informational and controlling expected evaluation and modeling experience. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 84(1): 1–22.Google Scholar
Shalley, C. E., Zhou, J., & Oldham, G. R. 2004. The effects of personal and contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here? Journal of Management, 30(6): 933–958.Google Scholar
Simonton, D. K. 1999. Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Simonton, D. K. 2000. Creativity: Cognitive, personal, developmental, and social aspects. American Psychologist, 55(1): 151–158.Google Scholar
Simonton, D. K., & Ting, S-S. 2010. Creativity in Eastern and Western Civilizations: The lessons of historiometry. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 329–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. 1985. Implicit theories of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3): 607–627.Google Scholar
Tadmor, C. T., Tedock, P. E., & Peng, K. 2009. Acculturation strategies and integrative complexity: The cognitive implications of biculturalism. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(1): 105–139.Google Scholar
Tierney, P., Farmer, S. M., & Graen, G. B. 1999. An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 52(3): 591–620.Google Scholar
Van Dyne, L., Jehn, K. A., & Cummings, A. 2002. Differential effects of strain on two forms of work performance: Individual employee sales and creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(1): 57–74.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M. 1987. Transactive memory: A contemporary analysis of the group mind. In Mullen, B. & Goethals, G. R. (Eds.), Theories of group behavior: 185–208. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Yue, X. D. 2004. Whoever is influential is creative: How Chinese undergraduates choose creative people in Chinese societies. Psychological Reports, 94(3): 1235–1249.Google Scholar
Zha, Z. 1998. Investigation to the Development of Gifted Children. Chong Qing: Chong Qing Publisher. (In Chinese.)Google Scholar
Zhou, J., & George, J. M. 2001. When job dissatisfaction leads to creativity: Encouraging the expression of voice. Academy of Management Journal, 44(4): 682–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, J., & Shalley, C. E. 2003. Research on employee creativity: A critical review and directions for future research. Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 22: 165–217.Google Scholar
Zhou, J., & Su, Y. 2010. A missing piece of the puzzle: The organizational context in cultural patterns of creativity. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 391–413.Google Scholar