Organisational creativity and the creative territory: The nature of influence and strategic challenges for organisations

Abstract

This research considers the nature of the influence of the creative territory, examined from the perspective of three levels (the underground, middleground and upperground), on the endogenous factors of organisational creativity (individual commitment, organisational context and the organisation’s ability to renew itself). The qualitative analysis of 18 SMEs involved in a competition for ideas highlights the fact that each level of the creative territory tends to have a different (either positive or negative) influence on the endogenous factors of organisational creativity. In order to understand these differences, this research identifies, among other things, four specific properties of the creative territory: the production of discourse, the creation of opportunities to transform the idea into a project, the roll-out of the project, and the protection of the idea and the project. The discussion takes a look at organisations’ openness to their environment and the role of the individual and intellectual property in this openness. This work ultimately validates the value of integrating the creative territory into models of organisational creativity.