The Role of Organizational Support for Creativity in Knowledge Management Systems

This research explores the relationship between organizational support for creativity and perceived usefulness of a knowledge management system (KMS) on project or task effectiveness. It has been shown that organizational support for creativity positively affects the innovativeness of a project (i.e., Amabile, 1996). Moreover, organizations are spending large amounts to build KMSs which allow the integration of knowledge across different contexts and therefore open an organization to new insights (Zack, 1999). This study attempts to test the link between organizational support for creativity and the perceived usefulness of a KMS. Furthermore, it investigates the perceived usefulness of a KMS and the possibility of a moderating effect of the perceived usefulness of a KMS on the relationship between organizational support for creativity and project or task effectiveness. The goals of the study are for researchers to better understand the effect of KMSs on project or task effectiveness and for practitioners to better be able to enhance creative performance through the combination of organizational support for creativity and KMSs.