Creative under pressure: The role of time pressure, creative requirements and creative orientation in creative behavior

The increasing turbulence within and around organizations requires employees to work harder and be more creative. This study investigated the relationship between time pressure and creative behaviour, and the role of creativity demands and creative orientation in it. Based on current literature, we predicted that time pressure and creative behaviour would show a curvilinear relationship. Creativity demands and creative orientation were assumed to have a positive linear relationships with creative behaviour and also to moderate the hypothesized curvilinear relationship. The results (N = 192) did not confirm the expected curvilinear relationship between time pressure and creative behaviour. However, we did find a linear positive relationship between time pressure and creative behaviour, while as expected creativity demands and creative orientation were positively related to creative behaviour. Moreover, indications were found of an interaction between time pressure and creativity demands: at low levels of creativity demands, time pressure and creative behaviour were positively associated, while at high levels of creativity demands, there was no significant relationship between these variables. Several avenues for future research are presented.