A multilevel investigation of the effect of task conflict on creative performance: focusing on the role of information sharing and team trust
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation proposes a complex and nuanced view to understand the effect of task conflict on creativity, emphasizing the role of critical contingencies. For a team-level phenomenon, I argue that teams can harvest the benefits of task conflict when they engage in information and knowledge sharing activities and maintain high levels of trust in the team, actions that both affect the mechanism through which informational resources generated by task conflict are effectively utilized for team creativity. For an individual-level analysis, I focus on each individual's asymmetric conflict perception within a team and its relation to individual creativity. I argue that individuals perceiving higher levels of task conflict than other members of the team are likely to achieve greater individual creativity. I also propose that team's information sharing climate and team trust would moderate the relationship between an individual’s conflict perception of task conflict and his or her creative performance. Results of the data analysis provide evidence for the claim that the effect of task conflict on creativity is affected by team-level contextual factors. Teams that were high in information sharing climate or team trust achieved greater team creativity than teams that were low in either condition at any given levels of task conflict. However, the enhancing moderating effects of both information sharing climate and team trust decreased as task conflict increased within the team. The relationship between individual conflict perception and individual creativity has been also supported, proving that the benefits of task conflict exist also at an individual level. Team's information sharing climate was found to be a facilitative context that influences the creative behaviors of individuals, however; the role of team trust was not supported. The key implication of this research is that task conflict can be beneficial to creativity both at an individual and team level, and that th…
abstract: This dissertation proposes a complex and nuanced view to understand the effect of task conflict on creativity, emphasizing the role of critical contingencies. For a team-level phenomenon, I argue that teams can harvest the benefits of task conflict when they engage in information and knowledge sharing activities and maintain high levels of trust in the team, actions that both affect the mechanism through which informational resources generated by task conflict are effectively utilized for team creativity. For an individual-level analysis, I focus on each individual's asymmetric conflict perception within a team and its relation to individual creativity. I argue that individuals perceiving higher levels of task conflict than other members of the team are likely to achieve greater individual creativity. I also propose that team's information sharing climate and team trust would moderate the relationship between an individual’s conflict perception of task conflict and his or her creative performance. Results of the data analysis provide evidence for the claim that the effect of task conflict on creativity is affected by team-level contextual factors. Teams that were high in information sharing climate or team trust achieved greater team creativity than teams that were low in either condition at any given levels of task conflict. However, the enhancing moderating effects of both information sharing climate and team trust decreased as task conflict increased within the team. The relationship between individual conflict perception and individual creativity has been also supported, proving that the benefits of task conflict exist also at an individual level. Team's information sharing climate was found to be a facilitative context that influences the creative behaviors of individuals, however; the role of team trust was not supported. The key implication of this research is that task conflict can be beneficial to creativity both at an individual and team level, and that th…
author: Lee, Eun Kyung
language: en
keywords: Task conflict, the effect of task conflict, creativity, team creativity, information sharing, team trust
date published: 2014-01-16T18:26:50Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:38Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/46933