Spaces for Creativity: Unconventional Workspaces and Divergent Thinking

51 Pages Posted: 25 Jul 2022 Last revised: 2 Feb 2024

See all articles by Sunkee Lee

Sunkee Lee

Carnegie Mellon University

Manuel Sosa

INSEAD

Date Written: June 17, 2024

Abstract

Companies have been adopting unconventional workspaces—often characterized by bright or odd colored walls, unique light fixtures, unusual office furniture, vibrant artwork, display of atypical non-work-related objects, and casual and playful atmospheres—to foster creativity. Yet, empirical evidence on the causal effect of such unconventional workspaces on creativity has been lacking. Across four experiments involving a total sample of 1,133 participants, we tested the effect of unconventional workspaces on individuals’ divergent thinking—the process of generating many and distinct ideas to solve a given task. Contrary to our initial expectations, we found that unconventional workspaces did not always boost divergent thinking and even hindered it. Specifically, unconventional workspaces were harmful when solutions for a divergent task could be readily inspired by the workspace’s features due to cognitive anchoring. Hence, the positive effect of unconventional workspaces was significant only when the potential solutions for the divergent thinking task were unrelated to features of the workspace. These findings provide important evidence of the causal effects of unconventional workspaces on the process of creativity and highlight crucial boundary conditions for such effects.

Keywords: Creativity, Divergent Thinking, Behavioral Operations, Workspace Design, Organization Design

Suggested Citation

Lee, Sunkee and Sosa, Manuel, Spaces for Creativity: Unconventional Workspaces and Divergent Thinking (June 17, 2024). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2024/36/TOM, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4172192 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4172192

Sunkee Lee

Carnegie Mellon University ( email )

5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

Manuel Sosa (Contact Author)

INSEAD ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

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