58 Chapter 3 In the current study, we argue that a specific form of social support, the availability of social support for creativity in the workplace (Madjar et al., 2002), may facilitate the link between proactive vitality management and creative work performance. Employees may, for example, explore the potential value of their ideas by discussing them with others. Moreover, in further developing and perfecting a creative thought or idea, supportive colleagues could be of great help in providing feedback and advice. Individuals who proactively use vitality management strategies may be able to think (more) creatively and have the potential to come up with new ideas to improve work products and services. However, when colleagues or supervisors do not support employees in this process, their creative potential may yield less value. Laboratory studies have indeed shown that expecting critical or even threatening evaluations from others may undermine creative performance (e.g., Amabile, Goldfarb, & Brackfield, 1990). In contrast, creativity is promoted when employees feel safe and supported (Oldham & Cummings, 1996), and thus confident enough to come up with ideas and communicate about them. Emotional support may help relieve some of the tension and stress by managing potential uncertainty about one’s idea and possible problems to be solved in the creative process (Madjar, 2008), and may bring strength and motivation to persist. In addition, the process may be facilitated by input from surrounding others, reflecting the informational aspect of social support. This input could refer to actual information, knowledge and feedback, but may also represent different perspectives and the activation of cognitive processes that help form associations between concepts (Madjar, 2008; Paulus & Yang, 2000). Thus, when people feel they can discuss their new and original thoughts at work to improve or find support for them, this may motivate individuals to direct their proactive vitality management towards creative endeavors and may thus translate their creative potential into higher levels of creative work performance. Hypothesis 3. The positive relationship between proactive vitality management and creative work performance is moderated by social support for creativity, such that this relationship is stronger when employees experience more social support for creativity at work.
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