Why Does Participation in Decision Making Enhance Creativity in Work Groups? An Integrative Review

It seems to be an established fact in the organizational psychological literature that participation in decision making leads to creativity and innovation in work groups and organizations. A quite extensive amount of research has claimed that the link exists, although only a somewhat smaller amount of research has established that there is a link between the two constructs of participation in decision making and creativity. But although this link has been clearly documented theories with clearly stated causal explanations of why participation in decision making (pdm) would lead to creativity and innovation are extremely rare. The literature has pointed to a large number of mediating variables and possible effects of pdm that could possibly explain the link to creativity, but explicit causal theories and experimental evidence of the validity of such theories remain relatively few. Suggested mediating factors include such different models as enhanced intrinsic motivation (Amabile, 2001; Conti & Amabile, 1999), reduction in resistance to change (De Dreu & West, 2001), pooling of unshared knowledge (Latham, Winters, & Locke, 1994) and better utilization of individual differences in cognitive style (Kirton, 1989), and improved work environment for creativity (e.g., Isaksen, Lauer, Ekvall, & Britz, 2001)