Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1984

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

H. Dudley Dewhirst

Committee Members

Eric Sundstrom, R. Tom Ladd, Howard R. Pollio

Abstract

The influence of motivation on creative performance has been recognized. Its source and amount of influence, however, have not been well explored or understood. This dissertation proposed to fill this need by developing a better theoretical and empirical understanding of the role of motivation in creative activity

The theoretical issue was addressed by applying an expectancy-based theory of motivation to explain motivation for creative action. It was hypothesized that the motivation to be creative, and consequently creative performance, was a function of one's self confidence in their creative ability (Expected Creativity) and one's expectation of their creative action leading to rewarding outcomes (Expected Reward).

The empirical issue was addressed by building and validating an expectancy-based measure of the motivation to be creative. Specifically, an 81 item Creative Motivation Scale (CM Scale) was developed to measure the constructs of Expected Creativity and Expected Reward. It was validated against a creative ability criterion and a past creative accomplishment criterion using a sample of 428 undergraduates; 176 of whom were randomly held out for the purpose of cross validation.

The results showed that the CM Scale significantly validated and cross-validated against the two criteria. Additionally, item analysis was used to construct a shorter general CM Scale and eight specialized CM Scales to predict performance in specific domains of creative achievement. These scales showed moderately higher validity and cross-validity than the original CM Scale.

Although, both the Expected Creativity and Reward subscales were found valid, the former consistently showed higher validity than the latter. This was interpreted in light of the inherent difficulty of measuring the Expected Reward construct. A computer-based interactive administration was proposed to remedy this problem.

The results have implications for the usefulness of an expectancy-based creative motivation factor for understanding and predicting creative performance. They also have implications for those who attempt to increase creativity in themselves and others.

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