Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2022

Abstract

We examine the influence of chronobiological processes on creativity, specifically the influence of a person’s chronotype. Chronotype refers to the setting of a person’s biological clock that gives rise to a distinctive pattern of sleep habits and preferred diurnal activity. We propose a synchrony effect and predict that people are creative when the external clock is aligned with their internal, biological clock. According to our model, positive mood and creative self-efficacy act as affective and cognitive mechanisms of this synchrony effect. We present three studies that test our theorizing: A quasi-experimental field study with 260 employees, a day-reconstruction study with 238 employees, and a one-day experience sampling study with 319 employees. Across studies, we find that chronotype moderates the effect of time of day on creativity. Overall, late chronotypes were more creative in the late afternoon and early chronotypes tended to be more creative in the morning. The alignment between chronotype and time of day also gave rise to positive mood and creative self-efficacy, however, the studies provide only partial support for the hypothesis that positive mood acts as a mediating mechanism. We discuss the implications of these findings against the background of an embodied cognition perspective on creativity.

Keywords

Creativity, biological clock, chronotypes

Discipline

Applied Behavior Analysis | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Academy of Management Journal

Volume

65

Issue

1

First Page

218

Last Page

247

ISSN

0001-4273

Identifier

10.5465/amj.2019.0020

Publisher

Academy of Management

Embargo Period

4-20-2021

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2019.0020

Download

Share

COinS