The Influence of Goal Orientation and Risk on Creativity

Abstract

Employees' creative performance has been found to play a vital role in the continued existence and growth of organizations. Many individual differences (e.g., openness to experience) are significantly related to creative output, but the importance of individuals' goal orientation on creative performance under high or low risk situations has been overlooked. To address this gap in the literature, we studied the relationship between risk and creativity, and investigated whether an individual's goal orientation enhances (i.e., learning orientation) or diminishes (i.e., avoid or prove orientation) the relationship between risk and creative performance. The hypotheses were tested in a laboratory environment using undergraduate subjects. Results showed a positive relationship between risk and creativity. The findings also supported the idea that individuals low in avoid orientation cultivate more creative outputs under high rather than low risk conditions. Limitations, future research, and implications are addressed.

We would like to thank Dr. Richard Woodman and Dr. Jill Perry-Smith for their helpful comments. We would also like to express our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable suggestions.

Notes

¹Participants who did not respond to the key variable of the study (i.e., creativity) were not included in the final sample size.

²Inappropriate responses were those outside of the designated Likert scale. For instance, participants were asked to select their answer from a 1–5 Likert scale. However, they answered 6, 7, or 8, which was outside of the appropriate range. Such participants were excluded from our analysis.

Note. GFI = Goodness of Fit Index. NFI = Normed Fit Index. CFI = Comparative Fit Index. RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation.

Note. N = 120.

∗∗p < .01.

Note. N = 120.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01.