Routinization, work characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive behaviors

Researchers have claimed that routinization hinders creativity. However, empirical evidence for this assumption is sparse. In this study, we argue that routinization may be beneficial for creativity and related behavior due to available resources that can be used to develop new ideas while working. We examine the relationship between routinization and four work characteristics (job control, job complexity, time pressure, and supervisor support) on the one hand and a range of creative and proactive behaviors on the other hand in a randomly selected sample of 278 employees of a German high-tech company. Regression analyses reveal that in addition to work characteristics, routinization is generally positively related to creative and proactive behaviors. Ways to enhance routinization and thereby creative and proactive behaviors are discussed. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.