THE MODERATING ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN THE RELATION BETWEEN COLLABORATION AND PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Within the dynamic environment of the recent creative industries, collaboration performs a central role. The literature has consistently explored the interaction between creative professionals with three types of actors: (1) the clients or public; (2) co-workers and; (3) business agents. The relative importance of each actor in the face of creative activities, however, remains theoretically fragmented and empirically under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to address the following question: what is the role of creativity in the relation between the type of partner to which the collaborative efforts are directed and the performance factors? To answer that question, a quantitative study comparing university students in more creative-intensive and less creative-intensive occupations was performed. An exploratory structural equations modelling (SEM) was developed for that purpose. Performance factors of both groups seem to follow similar priorities. Their collaborative efforts, however, show different patterns, supporting the conclusion that creativity is indeed related to different collaboration strategies. Although collaboration with co-workers seems to be developed similarly between more creative and less creative professionals, that with clients and business agents showed different results.