Egan Lua
Organizational Behavior Ph.D. Candidate | Scheller College of Business
Georgia Institute of Technology
 

Area: Organizational Behavior

Committee Members: Dr. Chris Shalley (Chair), Dr. Katie Badura, Dr. Terry Blum, Dr. Dong Liu, and Dr. Kris Byron (Georgia State University)

Title: Aha or Blah?: How Creativity Affects Belongingness and Loneliness Through Workplace Thriving and Stagnation

Dissertation Overview:
Creative behavior is highly encouraged in the workplace due to the competitive advantage it provides for organizations. While the impact of creativity on employee performance is well-documented, its broader consequences for employees remain relatively unexplored. As a social process, creativity has the potential to enhance individuals' social well-being. However, the mechanisms through which creativity shapes the quality of social relationships are not yet fully understood. Drawing from the socially embedded model of thriving and self-determination theory, I propose that creativity is an overlooked agentic behavior that can contribute to employee thriving within the workplace. Additionally, I suggest that creativity has the potential to mitigate workplace stagnation, a psychological state whereby individuals feel stuck at work, view their work as “busywork”, and do not derive joy from their work. I also explore how individuals’ creative role identity can moderate the relationship between creativity and workplace thriving and work stagnation. Finally, I propose that when employees thrive or stagnate as a result of their creative behaviors or a lack thereof, they are likely to experience a greater sense of workplace belongingness or loneliness. To test my propositions, I use a multi-study approach with different samples and methodologies. Study 1 employed an experimental design with undergraduate students. Study 2 was a time-lagged, three-wave study with U.S. participants recruited from an online survey platform. Study 3 was a time-lagged, multisource field study involving employee-coworker dyads in Singapore. I then discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, along with directions for future research.