In the business world, everybody is constantly talking about the need to be innovative and creative. Is creativity, however, always good for business? That is a question rised by U.S. academic researchers Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University. Together they focused on whether and to what extent creativity leads to unethical behavior.
Using a series of studies, Gino and Ariely concluded that creative people are more likely to cheat than those non-creatives. Moreover, it became clear that support for creative behavior reinforces unethical practices. In a world promoting creativity in all possible forms, that is a rather serious finding.
Creativity is not inherently a bad thing but managers should learn how to work with it better. The creative process in a company should be structured so that it uses its advantages to the maximum extent possible. It is, however, necessary to know the drawbacks and count with them as well.
The entire study titled The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonesty is available on the Harvard Business School website here.
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