Are Hopeful Employees More Creative? An Empirical Study

Abstract

We studied how employees' hope explains their creativity at work, both directly and through the mediation of happiness. One hundred and twenty-five individuals reported their hope and happiness, their supervisors having reported their creativity. Factor analyses suggested two hope factors (waypower; composite hope) and three creativity dimensions (novel ideas; creative ideas; ideas championing). The main findings were the following: (a) the composite hope predicted all creativity dimensions, the waypower dimension predicted only the ideas championing dimension; and (b) the composite hope measure also predicted creativity through the mediating role of happiness.

Notes

Note. ^a Mean score of all creativity items (α = 0.92).

^b 1 = female; 2 = male.

^c 1 = less than 4 schooling years; 2 = 5–6 years; 3 = 7–9 years; 4 = 12 years; 5 = degree; 6 = more than degree.

∗p < 0.05. ∗∗p < 0.01. ∗∗∗p < 0.001.

∗p < 0.05. ∗∗p < 0.01. ∗∗∗p < 0.001.