Being Moral When it is Counternormative: The Relationship Between the Creative Identity and Moral Objection

Authors:
Lynne C. Vincent, Syracuse University 
Maryam Kouchaki, Northwestern University


Journal (Year): Journal of Management, 2024

One sentence summarizing the essence (findings or implications) of your paper:
Across five studies, we demonstrate that having a creative identity cause people to morally object to a perceived injustice on behalf of someone else if doing so helps them support their creative identity.

Research Questions:
1. ) Are creative identities positively related to acts of moral objections when moral objection is perceived as counter-normative?
 2.) Will individuals with salient creative identities have higher norm-breaking motives than individuals with non-salient creative identities when moral objection is perceived as counter-normative? 
3.) Will the relationship between creative identities and acts of moral objection be mediated by norm-breaking motives?


What We Know:
Thinking that you are a creative person has implications beyond engaging in creative behaviors. This work shows that people with creative identities will stand up against injustices IF doing so supports their identity as a creative person. In other words, the desire to be seen as creative can lead to people engaging in moral behaviors that other people are unwilling to do. 

As organizations encourage their employees to be creative, they may encourage unexpected behaviors. Previous research has shown those unexpected behaviors may include dishonest behaviors. Here we show a different moral implication. Moral objection is “the act of speaking up … to oppose a morally questionable practice, or refusing to participate in the practice” (Wellman, Mayer, Ong, & DeRue, 2016, p. 793). While some forms of ethical voice can be welcomed in an organization and even expected, moral objection often is seen as less socially appropriate since it may disrupt work processes and can be  costly to the group (Wellman et al., 2016; Kundro & Rothbard, 2023). So, while moral objection has value to the organization and can help correct injustices, people tend to avoid engaging in the behavior. Our findings demonstrate that having a creative identity can be an unexpected path to moral objection if moral objection is seen as counter-normative and supports their creative identity.

Novel Findings:
We demonstrate a new consequence of the creative identity, moral objection. By doing so, we unpack the creative identity showing that norm-breaking motives is a crucial component of the creative identity. Moreover, norm-breaking motives can lead to moral objection even if the behavior is personally risky provided that moral objective is seen as anti-normative. Interestingly, there were conditions in which the creative identity led to moral objection when the moral identity did not. 

The relationship between creative identity (and creativity in general) and morality is complicated. The findings in this paper unravel that relationship a bit more.

Novel Methodology:
We designed an in-person experimental protocol that allowed participants to engage in moral objection directly. 
We examined moral objection across several contexts including unfair compensation and sexual harassment.

Implications for Practice:
From a practical perspective, employees are increasingly motivated to demonstrate their status as a creative person with U.S. employers claiming to need employees who can think creatively (Accenture, 2013) and creativity being recognized as prized and sought-after employee skill for employers (World Economic Forum, 2018). As more organizations are encouraging employee creativity, understanding how the creative identity and how it is shaped by the creative prototype becomes crucial as it affects individual and organizational outcomes. 
Furthermore, this research significantly builds on the emerging research on the consequences of the creative identity and creativity in general. Prior studies have often focused on creativity as the end result rather than testing any downstream relationships between creativity and positive or negative consequences. By understanding the content of the creative identity, we may predict the effects of that identity on individuals’ behaviors better. We find that having a creative identity is associated with norm-breaking motives, which can lead to moral objections. There may be additional consequences. For instance, issue selling, attempts to call the organization’s attention to key trends, developments, and events that have implications for organizational performance (Morrison, 2011). 
While creativity has its own significant positive consequences, organizations can encourage a creative identity to encourage objections if they also highlight the rarity of moral objections. By encouraging objections through fostering employees’ creative identities, organizations could identify and resolve issues before they become significantly harmful to the organization (Ashforth, Gioia, Robinson, & Treviño, 2008; Karpoff, Lee, & Martin, 2008). By promoting employees’ creative identities, organizations may encourage creative ideas but also be able to detect justice concerns before they become costly for the organization.

Implications for Research:
This paper contributes to the conversation on the consequences of the creative identity. Through norm-breaking motives, a creative identity may increase the willingness for moral objection when it is counter-normative. Rather than just speaking up about creative ideas, individuals with creative identities were willing to voice moral concerns on someone else’s behalf. Importantly, people who see themselves as creative act in line with the creative prototype and engage in moral objection even at a potential personal cost provided doing so allows them to contradict norms. By engaging in moral objection when it is counter-normative, creative individuals support their own creative identities. Thus, they act morally not to just to be moral but due to a motivation to break norms and conform to the creative prototype.   
Future research could identify additional consequences or uncover other aspects of the creative identity.

Full Citation:
Vincent, L. C. & Kouchaki, M. Being Moral When it is Counternormative: The Relationship Between the Creative Identity and Moral Objection. Forthcoming in Journal of Management.

Abstract:
Relying on the work on creative prototype and role theory, we demonstrate that having a creative identity can lead to moral objection depending on the implication of the act for one’s identity as a creative individual. In a pilot study, using a survey of working adults, we find that employees’ creative identities and their intention to object in moral situations are positively and significantly correlated. Utilizing measurement-of-mediation (Study 1) and experimental mediation (Studies 2-4) approaches we test and find support for the mediating role of norm-breaking motives predicting moral objection. In Studies 2- 4, we find that creative identities lead to moral objection when moral objection is counter-normative and not when it is an expected, normative behavior. Across 5 studies (N = 1,327), utilizing both experimental and correlational methods, this paper shows that creative identities can prompt moral objection when such objection is counter-normative, aligning with the creative prototype and reinforcing a creative identity through norm-breaking motives. We extend prior theories on the consequences of creativity, the creative prototype, creative identities, and their link with moral acts.