Governance and Creativity in Project-based Organizations: Archetypes and Agenda for Future Research

Prior research on the governance of project-based organizations has centered on the efficiency problem: on compliance, control, and a concern for doing things right. Less research has addressed the creativity problem: how governance practices spur novel thinking, idea generation, and innovation. We discern four governance archetypes for addressing the creativity problem along two creativity dimensions: creativity locus and creativity orientation. These archetypes are exemplified by case illustrations from four firms, highlighting key differences in how project-based organizations address the creativity problem. We present an agenda for future research emphasizing the need for comparative and longitudinal studies.