Firm Creativity as a Product of Interpersonal Dynamics and Contextual Influences

Since some decades, researchers have started devoting attention to the topic of organizational creativity. Consistently with the literature, studying organizational creativity should take into account different aspects: the process, the product, the person, and the situation, as all of them interact with each other in affecting creativity. Following this, prior research has focused on the effect of personal characteristics on organizational creativity, the organizational context, such as supportive and controlling supervision, organizational creativity mechanisms, and organizational and technology factors. In order to complement extant literature, this paper offers a model which grounds on the importance of individuals collecting knowledge others for fostering creativity while looking at two contextual elements likely to affect organizational creativity: top management support and the use of Information and Communication Technology [e.g. ICT use].