A recent study conducted by a Syracuse University professor in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management concluded that people who identify as creative tend to be dishonest.

Lynne Vincent, an assistant professor in Whitman, said she thought of the idea when she worked with creative people at a job more than 10 years ago.

“At the job, we were allowed to drink at work, put up unusual stuff on the walls,” she said. “We had no limitations.”

The study began in 2013 and was published in the Academy of Management Journal. The study included a series of five randomized controlled studies involving more than 600 participants, along with surveys from 83 employees and their immediate supervisors.

Vincent said the reason creative people tend to be dishonest has to do with how creativity is valued in the workplace.

“Creativity is seen as a trait that only the special, select few have,” she said. “It gives them a sense of entitlement because they are treated differently from everyone else.”

Vincent began developing the idea in 2008, and said she became more passionate about it in graduate school.

While working on the study, Vincent attended a conference at the University of Notre Dame, where she met her partner, Maryam Kouchaki, assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

“As creativity is becoming more important for organizations, it is crucial for organizations to understand how to encourage creativity,” Kouchaki said.

Vincent said there are healthier ways to encourage creativity in the workplace without revealing the dark side of creativity.

She added that if creativity is treated as something that everyone possesses, it will reduce the sense of entitlement.

“You can redefine what it means to be creative,” Vincent said. “It’s not only for special people. We can all be creative. It is a mundane event; it is a skill, not a rarity.”

She said the survey can be applied to Whitman’s curriculum in an important way.

Knowing how to encourage creativity among your employees without dishonesty, Vincent said, is important. She said she wants students to be flexible with ideas, not flexible with morals.

Vincent said she also sees the importance of the study in the modern workplace.

“Creativity is becoming more important as the world becomes more competitive,” she said. “It can produce positive outcomes, but left unchecked, it can lead to problems. This does not apply to everyone. It is just those who think they are rare. It leads to a sense of entitlement.”

Ravi Dharwadkar, chair of the department of management in Whitman, said the implications can be seen in companies, such as Volkswagen, today.

“To put this issue into context, when Volkswagen recently had to recall their cars due to their dishonesty about the cars’ emissions, it behooves us to figure out why they do what they do,” he said.

Dharwadkar said there is a good reason for this, considering companies tend to focus on employee performance.

He added that creativity has unintended consequences when companies cut corners.

“Creativity can be a virtue, but it can also be a detriment,” Dharwadkar said. “That still doesn’t excuse the dishonesty.”

Published on October 6, 2015 at 10:07 pm

Contact Amanda: alsilves@syr.edu