Follow the crowd in a new direction: When conformity pressure facilitates group creativity (and when it does not)

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Volumn 118, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 14-23

  Goncalo, Jack A ^a   Duguid, Michelle M ^b  

^a and History   (United States)

^b WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Conformity pressure; Group creativity; Group personality composition; Individualism collectivism

Indexed keywords

EID: 84858748027     PISSN: 07495978     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.12.004     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Allen V.L. Situational factors in conformity. Advances in Experimental Psychology 1965, 2:133-175.
2. Amabile T.M. Effects of external evaluation on artistic creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1979, 37:221-233.
3. Amabile T. The social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1983, 45:357-376.
4. Amabile T.M. Creativity in context 1996, Westview, Boulder, CO.
5. Amabile T.M., Goldfarb P., Brackfield S. Social influences on creativity: Evaluation, coaction and surveillance. Creativity Research Journal 1990, 3:6-21.
6. Asch S.E. Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs 1956, 70(9). [Whole No. 416].
7. Audia P.G., Goncalo J.A. Success and creativity over time: A study of inventors in the hard-disk drive industry. Management Science 2007, 53:1-15.
8. Baer M., Oldham G.R., Jacobsohn G.C., Hollingshead A.B. The personality composition of teams and creativity: The moderating role of team creative confidence. The Journal of Creative Behavior 2008, 42(4):255.
9. Barron F. Putting creativity to work. The nature of creativity 1988, 76-98. Cambridge University Press. R.J. Sternberg (Ed.).
10. Barron F., Harrington D.M. Creativity, intelligence, and personality. Annual Review of Psychology 1981, 32(1):439.
11. Beersma B., De Dreu C.K.W. Conflict's consequences: The effects of social motives on post-negotiation creative and convergent group functioning and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, 89(3):345-357.
12. Bond R., Smith P.B. Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Asch's (1952b, 1956) line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin 1996, 119:111-137.
13. Brehm S., Brehm J.W. Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control 1981, Academic Press, New York.
14. Brewer M.B., Chen Y.R. Where (who) are collectives in collectivism? Toward conceptual clarification of individualism and collectivism. Psychological Review 2007, 114(1):133.
15. Cable D.M., Parsons C.K. Socialization tactics and person-organization fit. Personnel Psychology 2001, 54(1):1.
16. Caldwell D.F., O'Reilly C.A. The determinants of team based innovation in organizations: The role of social influence. Small Group Research 2003, 34(4):497-517.
17. Camacho L.M., Paulus P.B. The role of social anxiousness in group brainstorming. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1995, 68:1071-1080.
18. Chambers J.A. Relating personality and biographical factors to scientific creativity. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied 1964, 78:1-20.
19. Choi H.S., Thompson L. Old wine in a new bottle: Impact of membership change on group creativity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 2005, 98:121-132.
20. Cialdini R.B., Reno R.R., Kallgren C. A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1990, 58(6):1015.
21. Collins James., Porras Jerry. Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies 1994, Harper Collins Publisher, New York.
22. Crutchfield R.S. Assessment of persons through a quasi-group interaction technique. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 1951, 46(4):577.
23. Crutchfield R.S. Conformity and character. The American Psychologist 1955, 10:5.
24. Crutchfield R.S. Conformity and creative thinking. Contemporary approaches to creative thinking 1962, 120-140. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. H.E. Gruber, G. Terrell, M. Wertheimer (Eds.).
25. Deutsch M., Gerard H.B. A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgment. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 1955, 51(3):629.
26. Diehl M., Stroebe W. Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1987, 53:497-509.
27. Dillard J.P., Shen L. On the nature of reactance and its role in persuasive health communication. Communication Monographs 2005, 72:144-168.
28. Feist G.J. A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic creativity. Personality and Social Psychology Review 1998, 2:290-309.
29. Florida R. The economic geography of talent. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 2002, 92(4):743.
30. Flynn F., Chatman J. Strong cultures and innovation: Oxymoron or opportunity?. International handbook of organizational culture and climate, Sussex 2001, John Wiley & Sons. S. Cartwright (Ed.).
31. Fogarty J.S. Reactance theory and patient noncompliance. Social Science and Medicine 1997, 45:1277-1288.
32. Forster J., Friedman R.S., Butterbach E.B., Sassenberg K. Automatic effects of deviancy cues on creative cognition. European Journal of Social Psychology 2005, 35(3):345-359.
33. Galinsky A.D., Magee J.C., Gruenfeld D.H., Whitson J.A., Liljenquist K.A. Power reduces the press of the situation: Implications for creativity, conformity and dissonance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2008, 95(6):1450-1466.
34. Gelfand M.J., Realo A. Individualism-collectivism and accountability in intergroup negotiations. Journal of Applied Psychology 1999, 84:721-736.
35. Gelfand M.J., Nishii L.H., Raver J.L. On the nature and importance of cultural tightness and looseness. Journal of Applied Psychology 2006, 91(6):1225-1244.
36. Glynn M.A., Abzug R. Institutionalizing identity: Symbolic isomorphism and organizational names. Academy of Management Journal 2002, 45:267-280.
37. Goncalo J.A., Kim S.H. Distributive justice beliefs and group idea generation: Does a belief in equity facilitate productivity?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2010, 46:836-840.
38. Goncalo, J. A. & Krause, V. (2010). Being different or being better? Disentangling the effects of independence and competition on group creativity. In: S. Thye, & E.J. Lawler (Eds.), Advances in group processes (Vol. 27, pp. 129-157).
39. Goncalo J.A., Staw B.M. Individualism-collectivism and group creativity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 2006, 100:96-109.
40. Gonzalez-Roma V., Fortes-Ferreira L., Perio J.M. Team climate, climate strength and team performance. A longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 2009, 82(3):511.
41. Gough H.G. A creative personality scale for the adjective check list. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1979, 37(8):1398.
42. Gough H.G., Heilbrun A.B. The adjective check list 1965, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
43. Groysberg B., Nanda A., Nohria N. The risky business of hiring stars. Harvard Business Review 2004, 82(5):92.
44. Hall W.B., MacKinnon D.W. Personality inventory correlates of creativity among architects. Journal of Applied Psychology 1969, 53:322-326.
45. Helson R. Women mathematicians and the creative personality. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1971, 36:210-220.
46. Helson R. In search of the creative personality. Creativity Research Journal 1996, 9:295-306.
47. Hennessey B.A., Amabile T.M. Creativity and learning 1987, NEA Professional Library, Washington, DC.
48. Hornsey M.J., Jetten J., McAuliffe B.J., Hogg M.A. The impact of individualist and collectivist group norms on evaluations of dissenting group members. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2006, 42(1):57.
49. Hocevar D., Bachelor P. A taxonomy and critique of measurements used in the study of creativity. Handbook of creativity 1989, 53-75. Plenum, New York. J.A. Glover, R.R. Ronning, C.R. Reynolds (Eds.).
50. Jackson J.M. Structural characteristics of norms. Current studies in social psychology 1965, 301-309. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York. I.D. Steiner, M. Fishbein (Eds.).
51. Jetten J., Postmes T., McAuliffe B.J. "We're all individuals": Group norms of individualism and collectivism, levels of identification, and identity threat. European Journal of Social Psychology 2002, 32:189-207.
52. Judge T.A., Thoresen C.J., Pucik V., Welbourne T.M. Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology 1999, 84:107-122.
53. Kaduson H.G., Schaefer C.E. Concurrent validity of the creative personality scale of the adjective checklist. Psychological Reports 1991, 69:601-602.
54. Kaplan S., Brooks-Shesler L., King E.B., Zaccaro S. Thinking inside the box: How conformity promotes creativity and innovation. Research on managing groups and teams: Creativity in groups 2009, Vol. 12:229-265. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
55. Kim K.H. Underachievement and creativity: Are gifted underachievers highly creative?. Creativity Research Journal 2008, 20:234-242.
56. Kirchler E. Reactance to taxation: Employerś attitudes towards taxes. Journal of Socio Economics 1999, 28:131-138.
57. Koestner R., Losier G.F. Distinguishing reactive versus reflective autonomy. Journal of Personality 1996, 64:465-494.
58. Levine J.M. Solomon Asch's legacy for group research. Personality and Social Psychology Review 1999, 3:358-364.
59. Markus H.R., Kitayama S. Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review 1991, 98(2):224.
60. McAuliffe B.J., Jetten J., Hornsey M.J., Hogg M.A. Individualist and collectivist norms: When it's OK to go your own way. European Journal of Social Psychology 2003, 33:57-70.
61. McCrae R.R. Creativity, divergent thinking, and openness to experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1987, 52(6):1258.
62. Miller D.T. The norm of self-interest. American Psychologist 1999, 54:1053-1060.
63. Miron-Spektor E., Erez M., Naveh E. The effect of conformists and attentive-to-detail members on team innovation: Reconciling the innovation paradox. Academy of Management Journal 2011, 54(4):740-760.
64. Mischel W. Personality and assessment 1968, Wiley, New York.
65. Mok A., Morris M.W. Asian-Americans' creative styles in Asian and American situations: Assimilative and contrastive responses as a function of bicultural identity integration. Management and Organization Review 2010, 6(3):371-390.
66. Moscovici S. Social influence and social change 1976, Academic Press, London.
67. Moscovici S. Social influence and conformity. The handbook of social psychology 1985, 3rd. ed., Vol. 2:347-412. Random House, New York.
68. Nemeth C.J. Managing innovation: When less is more. California Management Review 1997, 40.
69. Nemeth C.J., Staw B.M. The tradeoffs of social control and innovation in small groups and organizations. Advances in experimental social psychology 1989, Vol. 22:75-210. Academic Press, New York.
70. Neulinger, J. (1965). Person types, environment types and resultant forces. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York University.
71. Neulinger J., Stein M.I. Personality characteristics of volunteer subjects. Perceptual and Motor Skills 1971, 32:283-286.
72. Norton R. Measurement of ambiguity tolerance. Journal of Personality Assessment 1975, 39(6):607.
73. Oldham G.R., Cummings A. Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work. Academy of Management Journal 1996, 39:607-634.
74. O'Reilly, C. A., & Chatman, J. A. (1996). Culture as social control: Corporations, cults and commitment. In L. L. Cummings & B. M Staw (Eds.) Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 18).
75. O'Reilly C.A., Pfeffer J. Hidden value: How great companies achieve extraordinary result results with originally people 2003, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
76. Roe A. The making of a scientist 1952, Dodd, Mead, New York.
77. Roman R.J., Moskowitz R.B., Stein M.I., Eisenberg R.F. Individual differences in experiment participation: Structure, autonomy, and the time of the semester. Journal of Personality 1995, 63(1):113-138.
78. Rushton J.P., Murray H.G., Paunonen S.V. Personality characteristics associated with high research productivity. Scientific excellence 1987, 129-148. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. D. Jackson, J.P. Rushton (Eds.).
79. Schilpp, P. (1951). Autobiographical notes. In Albert Einstein: Philosopher-scientist, pp. 17-19 [© 1951 by the Library of Living Philosophers, Inc.].
80. Schneider B. The people make the place. Personal Psychology 1987, 40:437-453.
81. Schneider B., Salvaggio A.N., Subirats M. Climate strength: A new direction for climate research. Journal of Applied Psychology 2002, 87(2):220.
82. Shalley C.E., Zhou J., Oldham G.R. The effects of personal and contextual characteristics on creativity: Where should we go from here?. Journal of Management 2004, 30:933-958.
83. Sherif M. The psychology of social norms 1936, Harper & Row, New York.
84. Simonton D.K. Creativity as blind variation and selective retention: Is the creative process Darwinian?. Psychological Inquiry 1999, 10:309-328.
85. Sorenson J.B. The strength of corporate culture and the reliability of firm performance. Administrative Science Quarterly 2002, 47(1):70-91.
86. Staw B.M. Is group creativity really an oxymoron? Some thoughts on bridging the cohesion-creativity divide. Research on managing groups and teams: Creativity in groups 2009, Vol. 12:311-323. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
87. Sutton R.I. Weird ideas that work 2002, Free Press, New York.
88. Sutton R.I. The no asshole rule: Building a civilized workplace and surviving one that isn't 2007, Warner Business Books, New York.
89. Triandis H.C. The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review 1989, 96:269-289.
90. Triandis H.C. Culture and social behavior 1994, McGraw-Hill, New York.
91. Triandis H.C. Individualism and collectivism 1995, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
92. Triandis H.C., Gelfand M.J. Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1998, 74(1):118.
93. Van Maanen, J., & Schein, E. H. (1979). Toward a theory of organizational socialization. In Staw & Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 209-264).
94. Wiekens C.J., Stapel D.A. I versus we: The effects of self-construal level on diversity. Social Cognition 2008, 26(3):368-377.
95. West M.A. The social psychology of innovation in groups. Innovation and creativity at work: Psychological and organizational strategies 1990, 309-333. Wiley, Chichester. M. West, J. Farr (Eds.).
96. Woodman R.W., Sawyer J.E., Griffin R.W. Toward a theory of organizational creativity. The Academy of Management Review 1993, 18(2):293-321.
97. Zhou J. When the presence of creative coworkers is related to creativity: Role of supervisor close monitoring, developmental feedback, and creative personality. Journal of Applied Psychology 2003, 88(3):413-422.