Building a Systematic Program of Research into Employee Creativity and Innovation

Abstract

This chapter highlights the author’s view that building a systematic program of research is imperative in the journey toward influential scholarship. It shares the approaches that the author has learned and used in the process of building her systematic program of research. This research program centers around identifying key antecedents and consequences of creativity and innovation. The approaches shared in the chapter include choosing a nascent research field, enjoying the observation of workplace phenomena, reading widely and diversely, questioning commonly held assumptions, and designing projects that connect with the big picture. The author recounts how she relied on these approaches to (a) examining the interplay between the actor and the context in affecting the actor’s creativity, which resulted in a new typology; (b) developing the dual-tuning perspective on affect and creativity; (c) investigating how employee creativity leads to firm innovation and performance; and (d) creating a framework for understanding the receiving side of creativity. The chapter concludes with reflections on how to conduct impactful research by building a systematic program of inquiry.