2JS, TP, Crisis & Creativity: Examining the Relation - Research Paper

2JS and Creativity in Relation to TP and the Crisis

The objective of this research is the examination of the role of time perspective and financial crisis on levels of job satisfaction and creativity at work for Greek employees. This is the first study testing the relationship between time perspective and levels of job satisfaction and creativity at work during a financial crisis. One hundred and ten people completed a survey translated in Greek which was uploaded on the researcher's personal social media page. In the study, it was found that a) future time perspective and financial crisis were significant predictors of levels of job satisfaction and creativity, and b) Present Hedonistic time perspective significantly predicted levels of job creativity. These findings indicate that time perspective and the crisis are important constructs when investigating work-related outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations of the research are discussed.

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"If we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we're able to work harder, faster and more intelligently". Shawn AchorJob Satisfaction and Creativity at Work among Greek Employees: The Role of Time Perspective and Financial Crisis Job satisfaction and organizational creativity are considered as two of the most important factors for organizational sustainability and effectiveness. Job satisfaction has attracted a considerable amount of scholars' attention due to its association with employees' mental and physical health (Faragher, Cass & Cooper, 2005) as well as job performance and productivity (Babin & Boles, 1996). Similarly, it has been suggested that creativity or innovativeness in general, can be the only way for firms to succeed and be competitive in a globalized labour market (Cummings & Oldham, 1997; Shalley, Gilson & Blum, 2000). Similarly, time perspective is gaining more and more attention as a result of empirical evidence which indicates that the way people view their past, present and future influences several domains of their lives (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). Given that feelings of optimism/pessimism are embedded in the construct of time orientation, financial crisis was considered as a pessimistic present factor for this study. Most of the research on this issue has primarily focused on the impact of feelings of job insecurity and unemployment on people's psychological wellbeing (Adkins, Werbel & Farh, 2001; Goldsmith, Veum & Darity, 1996). To my knowledge, there is not any study investigating the effect of perceived influence by the crisis and time perspective on levels of job satisfaction and creativity at work. Hence, this paper is aiming on addressing this gap.

3JS and Creativity in Relation to TP and the Crisis

Theoretical Background Job satisfaction. Over the last years, more and more studies in the field of organizational psychology indicate that a happy worker is more productive (Achor, 2011). Job satisfaction has been the most investigated topic in Organizational Psychology due to researchers' and theorists' belief that it can influence various domains of the organizational life (Eslami & Grakhani, 2012; Hirschfeld, 2000; Spector, 1997). As Pinder (2008) argued, job satisfaction can "spill over" into the other aspects of people's lives. It has been found, for instance, that employees' levels of work satisfaction highly correlate with life satisfaction (Judge & Hulin, 1993; Judge & Watanabe, 1993), well-being (Judge & Hulin, 1993), organizational commitment (Eslami & Grakhani, 2012; Fletcher & Williams, 1996), as well as job performance (Babin & Boles, 1996) and less turnover intentions (Chen, 2006; Lambert, Hogan & Barton, 2001).

Job satisfaction refers to "the extent people like or dislike their work (Spector, 1997). Brief (1998) indicated that the concept of job satisfaction entails people's attitudes towards their job, mainly gauged in affective terms. This is why the researcher promotes more Locke's (1976) definition of job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. The last description of the concept captures the emotional reaction to a job as a consequence of the comparison between the actual and the expected outcomes (Brief, 1998; Hirschfeld, 2000). As Buitendach and Witte (2005) argued, job satisfaction comes from individuals' evaluations of their job depending on their unique needs and expectations. Hence, people experience job satisfaction when they feel that their abilities and requirements are fulfilled by their work and that they are offered opportunities and rewards (Buitendach & Witte, 2005). In addition, as the authors claim, since all definitions of the concept include employees' emotions, it comes as no surprise that job satisfaction can have several implications on their lives.

4JS and Creativity in Relation to TP and the Crisis

According to Weiss and his colleagues (as cited in Eslami & Gharakhani, 2012), satisfaction can be intrinsic, extrinsic and total. Intrinsic job satisfaction refers to the pleasant feelings of one's work resulting from facets associated with the job itself, such as autonomy and variety of job tasks (Buitendach and Witte, 2005). This means that an employee is intrinsically satisfied as a result of the work itself (Eslami & Gharakhani, 2012). Extrinsic job satisfaction, on the other hand, depends on pleasure derived from factors like pay, working conditions and coworkers which are not associated with the job tasks or the work per se (Buitendach and Witte, 2005). This means that extrinsically satisfied is someone who feels happy because of the practical/monetary rewards he/she receives from his/her job (Eslami & Gharakhani, 2012).

Creativity at work. It has been argued that innovation in all firms depends on its employees' creativity (Amabile, Conti, Coon & Herron, 1996; Cummings & Oldham, 1997). Empirical research on this topic has consistently indicated its value on the vitality and sustainability of organizations (Cummings & Oldham, 1997; Dul & Ceylan, 2011; Shalley et al, 2000). Apart from creativity's significance on organizations' viability and development, it has been pointed out that many professions depend on the actual exercise of creativity, such as engineering and marketing (Probst, Stewart, Gruys & Tierney, 2007). Creativity is commonly defined as the development of new and useful ideas, products or services, while innovation refers to "the successful implementation of creative ideas in an organization" (Amabile et al, 1996; Cummings & Oldham, 1997; West, 2002). More simply stated, the proposal or generation of a novel idea reflects an employees' or a team's creativity, whereas the introduction of a new organizational outcome to the market encompasses the company's innovation (Cummings & Oldham, 1997). According to Woodman and his colleagues (1993), organizational creativity should be seen as one of the components of the broader sphere of innovation.

As Cummings and Oldham (1997) argued, the significance of employees' creative contributions can become evident by the "creative inputs" they provide the company with. These "inputs" will form the available options for the firm to choose from, develop and ultimately implement, and thus, innovate (Cummings & Oldham (1997). Given the importance of creativity on organizational life, a considerable amount of research has investigated the relationship between creativity and personality, theorizing that people can be "creative talents" or not (Cummings & Oldham, 1997; Woodman et al, 1993). Other studies have also focused on testing ways in order to enhance employees' creativity at work for instance through "creativity friendly" working environments which can facilitate and augment the staff's levels of creativity or via support and encouragement by supervisors (Cummings & Oldham, 1997; Shalley et al, 2000).

5JS and Creativity in Relation to TP and the Crisis

Time perspective (TP). The concept of time has been the center of attention for scientists as it is considered to be inextricably linked to the human experience (Boniwell, 2005; Holman & Silver, 1998). Apart from the physical dimension of time, there is also the psychological aspect of this phenomenon which can have several implications in human life (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). The power of time perspective on people's behavior and psychological profile has been highlighted by many researchers (Boniwell and Zimbardo, 2004; Boniwell, Osin, Linley & Ivanchenko, 2010; Holman & Silver, 1998; Zimbardo et al, 1999). Philosopher Kant has also posited that the way people view time plays a vital role in their lives (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). According to Holman and Silver (1998), time perspective has been conceived as "the overall extent of cognitive involvement across past, present and future life domains". In other words, time perspective refers to whether people concentrate on their past, present or future in order to make a decision or act (Boniwell, 2005). According to Zimbardo and Boyd (1999), human experience consists of these three temporal constructs which enable people to recode, recall and interpret information and ultimately formulate their actions, by reconstructing their past and constructing their future. A single instrument for measuring multiple time orientations, the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) was developed by Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) which has been proven to have significant psychometric properties (Boniwell, 2005; Zhang, Howell & Stolarski, 2013). After a factor analysis, the researchers extracted five dimensions of time perspective: Past Negative (PN), Past Positive (PP), Present Hedonistic (PH), Present Fatalistic (PF), and Future (F). Each of these factors reflects a general orientation for the individuals who score high on them. Future-oriented people are considered to be more organized and concerned about achieving future goals. The ZTPI distinguished the past in two separate factors: Individuals who score high on the PN are described as holding pessimistic attitudes towards the past. Past Positive, on the other hand, also known as nostalgia (Routledge, Wildschut, Sedikides & Juhl, 2013) depicts a more positive often reminiscing view of the past. Specifically, nostalgia is a Greek term referring to "the sentimental longing for one's past (Sedikides, Wildschut, Arndt & Routledge, 2008)". The scale also suggests two different ways of concentrating on the Present TP: Present-Hedonistic oriented people are characterized as "living in the moment" and seeking excitement and pleasure today. The factor of Present-Fatalism, instead, is associated with beliefs of predestined future as well as feelings of helplessness and dissatisfaction with present life (Boniwell, 2005; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). On the basis of findings from previous research on the psychological benefits of Present Hedonistic, Future and Past Positive, Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) go as far as to propose the Balancing Time Perspective (BTP) for optimal functioning. Balance is defined as the individual's ability to move across time perspectives from one to the other depending on the needs of a specific situation, rather than making use of a single TP (Zimbardo & Bo...