Exploring the Role of Self-Confidence, Need-for-Cognition, and the Degree of IT Support on Individual Creativity: Multilevel Analysis Approach

In today’s creative economy, individuals generally have not been regarded as reservoirs of creativity who yield sustainable growth in hypercompetitive markets. Individuals rely on IT support to reduce clerical loads and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their work as well. When they work in teams, they also require self-confidence and the need for cognition to promote their individual creativity. Data were derived from the members of a large system integration company in South Korea (N = 256, 50 teams). As the study considered variables at both the team and individual levels, we adopted a multilevel analysis approach. We found that individual self-confidence, which indicates the degree of perceived possibility of success at a task, and the need for cognition, the intrinsic motivation to engage in and enjoy thinking, affected individual creativity significantly. Further, the degree of IT support, the team-level variable, had a significant effect on individual creativity. The degree of IT support did not have a significant effect on the relationship between self-confidence and individual creativity, but did have a moderating effect that weakened the relationship between the need for cognition and individual creativity. These findings have implications for theories of members’ creativity in organizations.