Shaping environments conductive to creativity: The role of intrinsic motivation

A great deal of research on creativity is based on the principle of intrinsic motivation, which underlies creative performance and mediates the effects of contextual factors on employee creativity. Using a sample of Chinese employees from hotel industry, this study's findings support the intrinsic motivation principle. This study applies the self-determination theory to model and examine intrinsic motivation and shows that a sense of autonomous motivation among employees plays a significant role in predicting employee creativity. Factors that promote creativity through autonomous motivation include a climate for creativity, empowering leadership, and coworker support. On the other hand, both task and personal conflict were negatively related to autonomous motivation. A controlling or coercive management style characterized by a focus on punishment, obligations, or external standards appears to be antithetical to employee creativity.