Through the Lens of Clarity: Perceived Organizational Tightness Boosts Creativity for Men, but Not for Women

Abstract

A commonly held perspective in the cultural tightness literature is that cultural tightness tends to negatively impact creativity. Yet some findings indicate that this relationship is not strictly negative and that a more nuanced perspective should be considered. Drawing on social information processing (SIP) theory and social role theory, we build theory on how the perception of organizational cultural tightness can increase creativity for some employees, but not for others. Specifically, we propose that perceived organizational tightness—the extent to which one perceives that an organization is characterized by strong norms and sanctions for deviation—increases clarity on creativity evaluation standards and that gender moderates this relationship such that the effect is stronger for men than for women. Clarity on creativity evaluation standards subsequently enhances creative self-efficacy, which, in turn, boosts employee creativity. Across four studies (a two-wave online study, a two-wave multisource field study, and two online experiments), we found evidence supporting our theory. This research extends our understanding of when, how, and why the perceived tightness of an organization’s culture influences employee creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Funding: This research was supported by the Nanyang Technological University Start-Up Grant awarded to G. J. H. Lim and the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 2 [Grant T2EP40120-0001] awarded to R. Y. J. Chua. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.17571 .