Employee Perceptions of a Leader's Influence on Creativity: A Qualitative Study of Advertising Firms

This qualitative study interviewed 22 creatives in the advertising industry. Participants included five firms and one freelancer from the Omaha, Chicago, and Kansas City markets. Participants were asked about their creative process and how a leader or their organization could best support that process. Results were organized into the three categories of (a) the creative process, (b) leadership influence, and (c) organizational influence. When discussing the creative process, creatives expressed the stages of the creative process were difficult to separate and often blurred together. They identified collaboration and direction as important for their creative process. When discussing leadership influence, creatives stated leaders could support their creativity by coaching them to be creative by helping generate ideas, asking questions, and speaking to them as a creative from experience with expertise. Creatives also said leaders could support them by recognizing they are emotionally tied to their work and by guiding them in the direction of the client. Creatives stated leaders hinder their creativity by not communicating specific feedback on their ideas. They also said leaders hinder their creativity by trying to pick only the safe ideas and at times being competitive, trying to come up with a better idea. The researcher noted from the feedback of creatives, there are many challenges that a leader has to balance in order to support and not hinder creativity. For organization influence, creatives said organizations could support them by creating an environment that gives them their own space as well as collaborative spaces, providing appropriate resources, and flexible schedule. Organizations should show creatives they are valued through appreciation and communicating job security.

Grantor dc:publisher

Creighton University

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Poss, Allison

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cherney, Isabelle D.

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is retained by the Author. A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/49897

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cdr.creighton.edu:10504/49897