Measuring impact of organizational culture on creativity in higher education
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-04-2018-0041 |
| Date | 08 October 2018 |
| Pages | 410-422 |
| Published date | 08 October 2018 |
| Author | Reetesh K. Singh,Priya Chaudhary |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Measuring impact of
organizational culture on
creativity in higher education
Reetesh K. Singh and Priya Chaudhary
Department of Commerce, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
Abstract
Purpose –Over the past few decades, Indian education system has witnesseda paradigm shift, leading to
the replacement of the traditionaleducation system. The traditional education system focused on the holistic
development of the student,with a focus on enhancing the student creativity and capability to innovate.This
shift leads one to ask whether the modern education system still nurtures creativity. This paper aims to
examine the impactof organizational culture in colleges on the creativity of studentsin India.
Design/methodology/approach –A questionnairesurvey was administeredto 174 students from public
and private colleges. The relationshipbetween creativity and locus of controlof students was examined and
discussed.
Findings –The results demonstrated that the organizational culture did not impact the creativity of
students in India. The Indianhigher education system will have to first overcome othersystemic issues and
bottlenecksto encourage creativity among students.
Research limitations/implications –The self-report questionnaires used in the study can at best
assess aptitudes or tendencies but may not be the most appropriate method to capture actual events or
dynamic processes.Self-report questionnaires must be supportedand corroborated by recording actual study
behaviorto establish validity.
Originality/value –The findings of thisstudy are useful for practitioners and policymakers to developing
a culture conduciveto creativity in students.
Keywords Creativity, Higher education, Organisational culture
Paper type Research paper
Creativity has been visualized as a means to self-fulfillment and contentment. It is also
considered as novelty and usefulness (Amabile,1982, 1983;Kaufman and Baer, 2012).
Philosophers such as Plato and Kant have viewed creativity as a source of madness and
imagination in a person (Gaut, 2010). Further, conventional individualistic characteristic
creativity (MacKinnon, 1965) is often found to be impacted by the context (Woodman,
Sawyer and Griffin, 1993), which is viewed as a reason for breeding creativity (Amabile
et al., 1996). This is evident when individualistic character of a person is found to play a
larger role in the organizationalcontext (Shalleya and Gilson, 2004). This may be seen as one
of the reasons for rising popularity of creativity among organizational theorists and
practitioners to study and build a culture for creativity (Koberg and Chusmir, 1987). It is
worth mentioning that culture, which describes character of an organization, acts as a
modifier escalating or de-escalating efficiency not only affecting productivity rather
building organizationalcreativity (Giri and Kumar, 2007;Kuenzi and Schminke, 2009; Aneta
Sokola et al.,2015;Coman and Bonciu, 2016). Ali Taha et al. (2016), in their research in
Slovak organizations find that culture plays a crucial role in stimulating and promoting
creativity. Their research findings support that organizational culture of psychological
safety and good interpersonal relationships with peers, which positively relates to
QAE
26,4
410
Received22 April 2018
Revised14 August 2018
Accepted26 August 2018
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.26 No. 4, 2018
pp. 410-422
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-04-2018-0041
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