Creativity for Workplace Well-Being

Organizational research on creativity tends to focus on creative outcomes such as novel and useful ideas or solutions to challenging problems. The current work considers another function of workplace creativity: as a resource that can promote well-being by promoting flexible stress response. By connecting extant research in management and organizations with complementary findings in clinical and health psychology, we explore this important alternative view for the significance of creativity in organizational life. In support of this view, we present a process model (and supportive data) that explains how creativity can allow one to flexibly respond to stress, such that when in a creative state, people may be able to spontaneously generate alternative interpretations, options, and responses to stressors that might not be apparent to them in a less creative state. We view this article as being of potential benefit to researchers and practitioners who are concerned with the creativity and well-being of working people.