Knowledge Management Research (지식경영연구)

The Knowledge Management Society of Korea (한국지식경영학회)
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Cognitive Flexibility Promotes Creativity for Securely (but not Fearfully) Attached People

애착유형과 창의성을 높이는 인지적 경로 간의 상호작용 연구

  • Received : 2022.07.26
  • Accepted : 2022.11.06
  • Published : 2022.12.31
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Abstract

As creativity is a crucial attribute for companies' survival and innovative success, many firms encourage and implement ways to promote employee creativity. Previous studies in the dual pathway to creativity model have shown that creativity can be enhanced when either the cognitive flexibility or cognitive persistence path is triggered. Although individuals have different personal traits, prior research has rarely investigated whether one pathway is more effective for a certain personality in promoting creativity than the other. Using attachment theory, we examined the influence of attachment style on the degree of the impact of each path on creativity. Specifically, we hypothesized that securely attached people would show higher creativity only when they use the cognitive flexibility path. Data from the US support our hypothesis. Our research highlights that the link between cognitive flexibility and creativity is salient when securely attached people use the cognitive flexibility path because of the strong fit between secure attachment and flexible thinking.

창의성이 조직의 성장과 발전에 중요하다는 점에서, 많은 기업들이 조직원의 창의성을 높이기 위한 방안들을 모색하고 있다. Dual pathway to creativity model 에 관련된 기존 연구에 따르면, 창의성은 두 가지 경로(인지적 유연성 혹은 인지적 지속성)를 통해 향상된다고 알려져 있다. 그러나, 이 두 가지 경로가 어떻게 활성화 되는지 이해하는데 있어서 조직원의 개인적 특질이 고려되어야 함에도 불구하고, 유연성과 지속성 중 어느 경로가 특정 성격에 더 효과적 인지에 대해서는 거의 논의된 바가 없다. 본 논문에서는, 애착 이론에 근거하여, 개인이 가진 애착 유형이 두 가지 인지적 경로에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 구체적으로, 안정 애착을 가진 개인이 (인지적 지속성이 아닌) 인지적 유연성 경로를 사용했을 때, 창의성이 향상된다고 예측하였다. 미국 피험자를 대상으로 한 온라인 실험은 본 연구의 가설을 지지하고 있다. 본 연구의 결과는, 조직 내 창의성 향상에 있어서 안정 애착이 (인지적 지속성이 아닌) 인지적 유연성과 더 적합하다는 점을 시사하고 있다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work received financial support from the Graduate School of Business and Technology Management at the College of Business, KAIST.

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