Sub-Plenary 2-1

Sustaining Creativity So That It Goes a Long Way [hybrid]

 

Friday, July 4, 2025, 16:00–17:30 EEST

Room:  JSB Library – ACG Events Hall


Chairs:
Dirk Deichmann, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
Pier Vittorio Mannucci, Bocconi University, Italy

Panelists:
Poornika Ananth, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Spencer H. Harrison, INSEAD, France
Inga Hoever, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
Christina E. Shalley, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
 

While the individual factors that influence creativity and idea submissions are widely studied, we know surprisingly little about the factors and mechanisms that shape why people engage in creative behavior over time and how organizations can create the conditions that lead to the sustained generation of ideas. In this sub-plenary session, we bring together several esteemed panelists to discuss their perspectives on how sustained creativity can be accomplished so that it “goes a long way”. We reflect on the causes that some individuals continually generate novel ideas while others fail to do so and discuss potential interventions that could revitalize someone’s creativity.

Creativity is essential to stimulate the development of new product, service, or process ideas. From an organizational standpoint, it is critical for employees and their leaders to understand not only how to stimulate creativity once – with creativity referring to the production of something novel and potentially useful– but, more importantly, how to create the conditions that allow for the continuous production of creative work over time, ensuring that people are not constrained or hampered by their previous successes or failures.
 
For this sub-plenary, four panelists – Inga Hoever, Spencer H. Harrison, Poornika Ananth, and Christina E. Shalley – will discuss their perspectives on the topic of sustained creativity. Our objective is to shed light on the dynamics of creativity over time as well as the personal and contextual factors that shape or hinder individuals’ ability to sustain creativity.
 
Inga Hoever: “How to Sustain Creativity in the Face of Adversity?”
There are three core questions within this theme. First, creative efforts and outcomes unfold over a sequence and external reactions to them which are frequently adverse (negative feedback, failure, setbacks, etc.). How can actors sustain their creativity in light of these reactions? Second, what is the impact of different adverse events (e.g., personal vs. social, creativity-related vs. creativity unrelated) on the subsequent creative efforts and outcomes? And third, what are the factors and strategies that can help to build creative resilience under different types of adverse circumstances?
 
Spencer H. Harrison: “Making or Breaking Lightbulbs: The Fragility of Sustaining Creativity”
Research on creativity has often focused on the generation of an idea, a product, or a solution as the end point of the creative process. Considering creativity over time, multiple projects, years, even careers, reveals that these measures might be shortsighted. Speaking across a variety of field-based studies, I will point to blind spots in our theorizing about creativity that have created a science rich in short-sightedness (a focus on outcomes) while suggesting openings for a more forward-looking science of creativity at work.
 
Poornika Ananth: “Creative Portfolios and Creative Projects with Multiple Outputs”
My contributions focus on the bigger question of “What can we learn about creative work and creative processes if you look beyond the development of single creative projects?” First, I will focus on creative portfolios and will cover questions such as 1) why might a creative portfolio be an important unit of analysis?, and 2) what does it allow us to understand about the nature of creative work? Second, I will concentrate on creative projects with multiple outputs, touching upon questions such as 1) what do we know about projects that extend over longer time horizons?, 2) what kind of challenges may be associated with such longer-term creative projects, and 3) what kind of practices do creators use to navigate some of these challenges?
 
Christina E. Shalley: “Sustainable Passion”
I have been able to nurture a strong desire to truly understand creativity at work, including who may be more or less creative, when does it occur, and why certain work contexts allow it to flourish while others stifle its existence. I will discuss ways to sustain this passion for studying creativity.
 
The sub-plenary’s format includes an introduction and welcome by the Chairs; statements on the perspectives of sustained creativity by the four panelists; and a general discussion on future research directions.
 

Biographies

Poornika Ananth is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Bath School of Management, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on creativity and the dynamic processes through which individuals and groups navigate tensions in creative work, particularly in the context of long-term creative endeavours.
 
Dirk Deichmann is Professor by Special Appointment at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands. He focuses on the determinants and consequences of creative and innovative behavior, with particular emphasis on the question of how sustained and successful idea generation, development, and implementation can be achieved.
 
Spencer H. Harrison is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, France. His research explores the interplay of creativity, connection (socialization, identity, and identification), and coordination. Spencer still thinks cartoons are cool.
 
Inga Hoever is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Teamwork at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands. She has a keen interest in collective creativity and team diversity and how employees can be supported in realizing the creative potential of the diversity present among their co-workers or team members.
 
Pier Vittorio Mannucci is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Technology at Bocconi University, Italy. His research focuses on creativity and creative processes at the individual and team level. Pier’s work has been published in international journals and books.
 
Christina E. Shalley is the Matthew R. and Sharon M. Price Chair of Organizational Behavior, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. Her research interests focus on both individual and team level creativity, and in particular examines the contextual and personal factors that contribute to creativity.