Originality vs. Appropriateness: The Moderating Role of Culture on the Effect of Instructional Focus on Individual and Team Creativities

Creativity is one of the essential skills for the 21st century. Although current advancement in the research converges on its dual features (i.e., originality and appropriateness) and the effect of instructional focus, little is known about how culture and work modality (i.e., individual or collaborative) play a role in the effect. This study examined the moderating role of culture on the impact of instructional focus on creative performance at both individual and team levels. We recruited 144 participants (72 from the United States and 72 from China) to form 48 working teams of trios, half of which were instructed to focus on originality while the other half to focus on appropriateness. Our results revealed a main effect of instructional focus on creativity only at the team level but not at the individual level. More importantly, we found that the individualistic culture yielded the best creative performance with individual work modality when instructed to focus on originality, whereas the collectivistic culture yielded the best creative performance with team work modality when instructed to focus on appropriateness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.