Hadjikosta, Kyriaki (2020) Three essays on playing at work and organisational creativity. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis is a collection of three independent but related essays on playing at work and organisational creativity. In the first essay, we focus on an emerging type of play activities purposefully designed to improve organisational creativity (Kirsten & Du Preez, 2010; Nisula & Kianto, 2018; West, Hoff & Carlsson, 2017), which we call serious play for organisational creativity (SPOC). Recognising the potential of SPOC in the business environment, we review the available theoretical and empirical literature on play, serious play, and creativity in the developmental psychology and management literatures and provide an agenda for future research on SPOC design and implementation.

In the second essay, we recognise that while multiple mechanisms explaining how play can stimulate creativity inside and outside the workplace have been proposed (Kirsten & Du Preez, 2010; Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006; Mellou, 1994, 1995; Saracho, 2017; West, 2014), most of these mechanisms have not been clearly communicated (Petelczyc, Capezio, Wang, Restubog & Aquino, 2018; Russ & Wallace, 2013) and robust research linking play design characteristics (e.g., materials, dosage, content), mechanisms, and outcomes is lacking. To address this limitation and help develop rigorous research in this area, we focus on play as an activity and describe in greater detail one of the possible mechanisms by which play can promote ideational fluency, originality, and flexibility – three cognitive abilities important to creativity (Runco, 2011; Russ, 2018). We also consider how five important play design characteristics – materials, cognitive content, social content, freedom, and dosage – might facilitate the mechanism we describe.

In the third essay, we develop hypotheses based on the mechanism we describe in the second essay and test these hypotheses using data from a pre-test-post-test experimental design. While the play intervention we administered did not activate the mediating mechanism we describe, the findings suggest that the mechanism merits further exploration. We provide research design and play design recommendations for future research.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Creative ability in business, Management games, Creative thinking, Problem solving, Play, Work environment
Official Date:	December 2020
Dates:	Date Event December 2020 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Friedrich, Tamara L.
Sponsors:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xv, 178 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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