How does cognitive detachment from work influence employee creativity? A curvilinear relationship based on the cognitive perspective

ABSTRACT

During the corona virus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, employees have begun to lack a sense of cognitive detachment from their work. Furthermore, employees with high creativity are better able to help their organizations to survive the economic decline caused by this pandemic. However, scholars currently know relatively little about how and why cognitive detachment influences employee creativity. Leveraging boundary theory and a dual pathway to creativity model (DPCM), the present study hypothesized that cognitive detachment from work will influence employee creativity in an inverse U-shaped pattern, with cognitive flexibility as a mediator and the boundary condition of intrinsic motivation for creativity being included. Our results, which were gained from a sample of 304 research and development (R&D) employees, indicate that employees' cognitive detachment from work and their degree of creativity possess a curvilinear relationship and that cognitive flexibility is a likely mediator between them. Notably, this inverse U-shaped relationship is significant only if the employees have high intrinsic motivation for creativity. This study uncovers the complicated influence of cognitive detachment from work on individual creativity, while also investigating the underlying cognitive processes (i.e., cognitive flexibility) involved and the importance of intrinsic motivation. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.