Sub-Plenary 1-1

Creative Work at the Nexus of the Timely and Timeless

 

Thursday, July 3, 2025, 14:00–15:30 EEST

Room:  JSB Library – ACG Events Hall


Chairs:
Charalampos Mainemelis, Alba Graduate Business School, Greece
Silviya Svejenova, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Panelists:
Simone Ferriani, University of Bologna, Italy, and City, University of London, United Kingdom
Frédéric Godart, INSEAD, France
Sarah Harvey, University College London, United Kingdom
Robert Litchfield, Washington & Jefferson College, USA
 

The organizers of the 41st EGOS Colloquium 2025 in Athens state in their General Theme that “Whereas many creative works are short-lived, some creative works manifest remarkable ‘staying power’ and last for decades, centuries, or even millennia.”
This sub-plenary brings together scholars with a rich record of research on creativity and/or the creative industries to reflect on two interrelated questions that lie at the heart of the “Creativity That Goes a Long Way” theme of the 41st EGOS Colloquium:
– Why does some creative work last long periods of time while other creative work perishes into oblivion?
– How does creative work become timeless and stay timely?

Having studied creativity at different levels of analysis and from various conceptual angles, the sub-plenary’s panelists will explore these questions from diverse perspectives, among which time and temporality, style and fashion, cult creation and curation, legacy and tradition, revival and reinterpretation, present and retrospective social evaluation, networks and contexts. Drawing on the panelists’ presentations, the sub-plenary will engage the attending EGOSians in a stimulating discussion about creative work that has both timeless value and timely relevance.
 
We leave the interpretation of the term ‘creative work’ wide open so that the panelists, and more broadly the organizational scholars attending the sub-plenary, can approach it in different ways and infuse it with different meaning according to their own research interests and intellectual underpinnings. In doing so, we wish to stimulate a critical reflection about ‘what’ exactly is creative work that goes a long way, e.g., creative work as an idea, a synthesis of ideas, an enduring aesthetic style, a single creative product, a collection of a creator’s works, a work of art, an invention, a large-scale project, an idiosyncratic creative process or practice, or else?
 
The panel discussion will also inquire into ‘who’ (individuals, collectives, organizations, communities, movements, etc.) creates and influences the timeliness and timelessness of creative work. This dimension of lasting creativity refers to the creators who conceive and craft a timeless original work (their characteristics, motivations, career trajectories, critical decisions and actions, and so forth). This dimension also entails concurrent and subsequent co-creators who reenact, revive, reconstruct, or reinterpret an original past work across distal temporal and cultural contexts; various intermediaries and audiences (e.g., critics, consumers, patrons, sponsors, professional networks, fan clubs) who engage in the social (re)evaluation of an original work across time and context. Reflecting on similarities and differences, as well as connections, among original creators, subsequent co-creators, as well as intermediaries and audiences will allow us to shed light on the multi-layered dynamics involved in making and sustaining lasting creative work.
 
Furthermore, we wish to address ‘how’ a timeless creative work is born, specifically, the processes of original creation, social (re) evaluation, optimal distinctiveness, cultural consecration, curation, revival, and reinterpretation. In doing so, we wish to uncover similarities and differences between the original creative process and a multitude of other creative processes that appear to be involved in the sustained and/or retrospective recognition and legacy of original creative work.
 
Finally, we will also address the ‘where’ and ‘when’ aspects of timeless creativity. The ‘where’ aspect concerns contexts and genres that appear to benefit more from sustaining rather than replacing old creations (e.g., most performing arts as opposed to most technology fields), and to the unique characteristics of organizing for re-interpreting and/or re-enacting past creations as opposed to creating brand new ones. The ‘when’ aspect entails the temporal patterns (e.g., linear, cyclical, episodic, asymmetric, lagged) involved in the social recognition of creative work, and the socio-temporal processes involved in sustaining a legacy and making a timeless creative work timely, that is, fresh, compelling, and resonating with present-day societal concerns, audience tastes, market trends, social needs, and cultural dynamics.
 
The format of the sub-plenary session includes a short introduction by the chairs (5 minutes); a presentation by each panelist (including the chairs; 60 minutes in total); and a moderated discussion between the panelists and the audience (25 minutes).
 

Biographies

Simone Ferriani is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Bologna, Italy, and at City, University of London, United Kingdom. He is also a lifetime fellow of Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. His research interests include entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, and social networks. Simone’s research has been featured in various academic journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, American Sociological Review, Research Policy, and the Journal of Management. Recent publications have focused on processes of social evaluation, outsiders-driven innovation, the origin of entrepreneurship and the social side of creativity.
 
Frédéric Godart is an Associate Professor (with tenure) of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD in France. He received his PhD in Sociology from Columbia University, USA, and he also holds an MPhil in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), United Kingdom; an MSc in Management from SciencesPo Paris, France; and was a fellow of the École Normale Supérieure in France. Frédéric is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts. His research on the dynamics of creative industries has been published in top-academic outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Annual Review of Sociology, Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Social Forces, and the Strategic Management Journal.
 
Sarah Harvey is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the UCL School of Management, United Kingdom. She studies the dynamic processes through which individuals and collectives engage in creative and knowledge work, particularly interested in how groups synthesize knowledge, identify creative ideas and decide which ideas to pursue. Her research has appeared in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, and other academic journals. Sarah is a senior editor at Organization Studies and on the Editorial Boards of several journals including Administrative Science Quarterly and Academy of Management Review.
 
Robert Litchfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business at Washington & Jefferson College, USA. He received his PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from The Ohio State University. Rob’s research focuses on creativity and innovation, identity, and the future of work. His work has been published in journals including Academy of Management Review, Group and Organization Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Strategic Organization, Journal of Creative Behavior, and Motivation & Emotion. Rob’s book, Digital Nomads: In Search of Freedom, Community, and Meaningful Work in the New Economy (2021), is published by Oxford University Press.
 
Charalampos (Babis) Mainemelis is Professor of Organizational Behavior at Alba Graduate Business School, Greece, and Chair of the Program and Scientific Committees of the 41st EGOS Colloquium in Athens. His research examines creativity’s intersections with aesthetic states, social structures, and temporal dynamics. Babis has developed four theories about creativity in organizations, including a strain theory of creative deviance that was awarded Academy of Management Review’s Best Article Award, and a meta-theory of creative leadership that was finalist for Academy of Management Annals’ Best Article Award. His other works have been published in Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Leadership Quarterly, Research in Organizational Behavior, and several other journals.
 
Silviya Svejenova is Professor at the Department of Organization and Academic Co-director of the CBS Leadership Centre at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. She investigates how creativity, innovation, and strategic leadership can enable sustainable futures, place-based communities, and positive societal impact. She has published her research in leading academic journals and books and has co-edited special issues on drivers of innovation in the creative industries, organizing creativity for innovation, the material and visual turn in organization studies, biomateriality and organizing, and most recently on rediscovering craft in organization studies.