The purpose of this study was to extend understanding on the factors that contribute to the creativity of
inventions. A growing number of organizations focus on innovation, and in turn on the first step of
innovation. Reaching high levels of creativity in the organization seems difficult but not impossible as
some companies like IDEO, Google and Apple show us. Creativity, as the first step in the innovation
process, is critical for this process. We first defined where individual creativity originates, touching on
multiple disciplines. Afterwards we explained how the organizational context contributes to the creativity
in the organization and how it stimulates the creative individuals in the organization. But we want to
understand which management instruments and office structures impact the creativity in the
organization. All the management tactics discussed, except for one, focus on the interaction and the
resulting interconnectedness and information sharing between the inventors on the work floor. The
exception is the free time program, which is specifically designed to foster the creative thinking of the
inventors separately. Data is collected by using a telephone survey and merged with two value measures
from PATSTAT afterwards. An analysis of the environments of multiples inventors revealed multiple
insights.
In our sample, inventions reported a higher probability of being granted a patent when they were made
in a wide open office work environment. The hypotheses concerning the presence of collaborative
spaces for informal encounters and the presence of teambuilding or non-work events were rejected.
Creative performance (measured by forward citations) was higher in the following situations:
When the organization offered telework (supported)
When the department, unit or team held regular meetings concerning the invention (partially
supported)
When the company gave free time structured as 10% per week (partially supported)
Results show that the variables researched might impact the two value measures, the grants of patents
and the forward citations, in different ways. Due to the various limitations of this thesis, further research
is needed to unravel the impacts of various management tactics on the creativity of organizations. The
challenge for future research is not only to find empirical evidence for the factors that alter creativity, but
also to prove how these factors influence creativity. Creativity still remains a phenomenon that is
impacted by more factors than we can count. It might only be fully understood when we comprehend all
the findings and insights of various disciplines. I hope that this thesis provides some insights in how
organizations can foster the creativity of its members and that it stimulates future endeavors to decipher
creativity and all its drivers.