Creativity for Problem Solving in the Digital Era: Configurations of Leadership Profiles

Abstract

Finding creative solutions to organizations' challenges is critical to determining the ability to thrive. Creative leadership promotes an organizational culture based on creative problem‐solving skills. Five leadership elements (being digitally and technologically savvy, having a results orientation, promoting collaborative teamwork, possessing business skills, and providing resources to the team) enable leaders to pursue creative or uncreative problem‐solving solutions. The current study used a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis to identify the elements of creative leadership. The analysis comprises data from 123 leaders worldwide from different sectors collected from an online survey. The results showed five leadership profiles leading to creative problem‐solving and another five profiles leading to an uncreative outcome. The results provided a tangible approach to the behaviors needed to be creative leaders and the configurations of uncreative behaviors to avoid. The study integrates academic and practitioner perspectives on creative leadership and offers a model supported in the academic literature and relevant to practical needs.