Sandra Ohly

Taking personal initiative and communicating about ideas: What is important for the creative process and for idea creativity?

Using multisource data, this study focused on the process aspect of creativity at work. A modification of Amabiles (1988) stage model of the creative process with the stages of problem identification, preparation, idea generation, and idea validation served as the basis for our study. We examined personal initiative and idea-related communication as two important factors for the creative process and for the degree of creativity of one specific idea an employee recently produced at work. In a sample of 52 nurses, we found that idea-related communication was positively related to engagement in the creative process but not to idea creativity. Personal initiative boosted engagement in the beginning of the creative process and was positively related to creativity as an outcome. Results suggest that idea-related communication is important for showing engagement in the creative process, whereas personal initiative is important in the beginning of the creative process and for idea creativity.

Dispositional Resistance to Change: Measurement Equivalence and the Link to Personal Values Across 17 Nations

The concept of dispositional resistance to change has been introduced in a series of exploratory and confirmatory analyses through which the validity of the Resistance to Change (RTC) Scale has been established (S. Oreg, 2003). However, the vast majority of participants with whom the scale was validated were from the United States. The purpose of the present work was to examine the meaningfulness of the construct and the validity of the scale across nations. Measurement equivalence analyses of data from 17 countries, representing 13 languages and 4 continents, confirmed the cross-national validity of the scale. Equivalent patterns of relationships between personal values and RTC across samples extend the nomological net of the construct and provide further evidence that dispositional resistance to change holds equivalent meanings across nations.

Age and creativity at work The interplay between job resources, age and idea creativity

Purpose – The purspose of this study is to examine the interplay between job resources (job control and support for creativity from coworkers and supervisors), age and creativity at work. Job control and support for creativity are assumed to benefit idea creativity and to moderate the relationship between age and idea creativity. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 117 nurses completed questionnaire measures and reported a creative idea they recently had at work. Three subject matter experts rated the creativity of the ideas. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Findings – Job control and support for creativity as well as age were unrelated to idea creativity. However, job control and support for creativity moderated the relationship between age and idea creativity. Age was positively related to idea creativity under high job control and negatively related to idea creativity under low job control and low support for creativity. Research limitations/implications – A potentially selective sample due to systematic drop-outs and a selection effect of older nurses might limit the generalizability of our results. Future research should examine the mechanisms that explain the moderating effect of job resources in the relationship between age and performance. Practical implications – Older employees’ creativity at work can be raised by fostering support for creativity from coworkers and supervisors. Younger employees should get support to deal with a high level of job control, because their creativity is lowest under a high level of job control.

Challenging the status quo: What motivates proactive behaviour?

To replicate and extend previous research regarding antecedents of proactive behaviour at work, we examined four forms of work motivation (job self-efficacy, role breadth self-efficacy, intrinsic work motivation and role orientation) in a sample of 98 employees in software development using co-worker rated proactive behaviour as an outcome. Correlations indicate that whereas intrinsic motivation and job self-efficacy were not related to co-worker rated proactive behaviour, role orientation and role breadth self-efficacy showed significant relationships. This study stresses the importance of role breadth self-efficacy in enhancing proactive behaviour at work.

Networks for Generating and for Validating Ideas: The Social Side of Creativity

Abstract In recent years, research has recognized that creativity is a social process. By communicating with others, individuals get access to novel perspectives and unique knowledge, and they can get political support for their ideas by ensuring that they meet others’ standards. Based on the different function of idea-related communication, we expected the structure of idea-generation networks to differ from that of idea-validation networks. Specifically, we expected different effects of leadership status and tenure. Our results indicated some differences in the structure of the two networks. This leads to the recommendation that future research on idea-related communication and creativity needs to distinguish the different phases of the creative process.

There is more than obeying display rules: Service employees' motives for emotion regulation in customer interactions

Although research has focused on how service employees regulate their emotions, few studies have explored why they do so. In this article, we first described which kinds of motives for emotion regulation exist in customer interactions. Second, we investigated how the motives are related to four emotion regulation strategies. The application of an explorative approach resulted in a list of 10 motives, which could be classified into the three motive categories: pleasure, prevention, and instrumental. Hierarchical linear modelling of 421 reported service interactions from a diary study revealed that the motive categories were differently related to the emotion regulation strategies. Motives of the instrumental category were only significantly positively related to surface acting. Motives of the pleasure category were positively related to deep acting and automatic regulation as well as negatively related to surface acting and emotional deviance. Motives of the prevention category were positively related to deep acting, surface acting, and emotional deviance as well as negatively related to automatic regulation. These results can be used by organizations not only to enhance the motivation of employees towards emotion regulation, but also towards more authentic emotional expressions.

From the lab to the real-world: An investigation on the influence of human movement on Emotion Recognition using physiological signals

The recognition of human emotions using physiological signals such as Electrodermal Activity (EDA), Electrocardiogram (ECG) or Electromyography (EMG), has been extensively researched in the past attracting a lot of interest during the last few decades. Although showing a relatively satisfactory performance under lab conditions, Emotion Recognition (ER) systems using physiological signals are not widely used in real-world scenarios. One important fact is that, in the real world, physiological signals may be influenced by human movement and therefore, they cannot be used as a unique indicative of emotions. In this paper, we investigate the influence of human movement on ER using physiological signals. We compare different measures of emotion before and after a test person has performed some physical activity (e.g. walking, going upstairs). We discuss the main differences between recognizing emotions in the lab and the real world and provide new insights into the development of ER systems in real-world scenarios.

Assessment of social roles for interruption management: a new concept in the field of interruptibility

Determining and identifying opportune moments for interruptions is a challenging task in Ubiquitous Computing and Human-Computer-Interaction. The current state-of-the-art approaches do this by identifying breakpoints either in user tasks, activities or by processing social relationships and contents of interruptions. However, from a psychological perspective, not all of these breakpoints represent opportune moments for interruptions. In this paper, we propose a new concept in the field of interruptibility. The concept is based on role theory and psychological interruption research. In particular, we argue that social roles which define sets of norms, expectations, rules and behaviours can provide useful information about the users current context that can be used to enhance interruption management systems. Based on this concept, we propose a prototype system architecture that uses social roles to detect opportune moments for interruptions.

Balancing the Online Life: Mobile Usage Scenarios and Strategies for a New Communication Paradigm

Mobile technology, with both its ever-improving connectivity and the capabilities of mobile terminals, has revolutionized the way we can work (and lead our private lives). Basically, connectivity through mobile devices and the ability they provide to work at any place and any time can be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it can open up important advantages, such as increased flexibility, efficiency, and effectiveness; on the other hand, working individuals may increasingly struggle to balance their work and life domains.

Conceptual Framework with the Focus on Recovery and Well-Being Processes

In this chapter, we interconnect all the previous theories and empirical results presented above and propose a conceptual overall framework of antecedents and consequences of work-related ICT use during non-work time with the focus on employee recovery and well-being processes. In our opinion, the previous consideration of ICT use as ‘double-edged’ (demand/resource) is correct in itself but not sufficient to explain all its possible consequences for our core concepts. Thereby, we consider action theory (Hacker W, Allgemeine Arbeitspsychologie: Psychische Regulation von Arbeitstatigkeiten. H. Huber, Bern, 1998; Eur J Work Org Psychol 12(2):105–130. doi: 10.1080/13594320344000075, 2003; Frese M, Zapf D, Action as the core of work psychology: a German approach. In: Dunnette MD, Hough LM, Triandis HC (eds) Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, vol 4. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, pp 271–340, 1994) as a basis for our conceptual work and posit ICT use after hours for work purposes as potential stressor, resource, or demand. This three-way division enables to propose various associations to recovery and well-being processes. Furthermore, cognitive appraisals (see Lazarus RS, Folkman S, Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer, New York, 1984) are suggested to play a central role by considering work-related ICT use during non-work time as stressor, demand, or resource.