Conceptualizing Creative Use: An Examination of the Construct and its Determinants

Organizations depend on the creativity of their employees in order to get the best possible outcome from the technologies that have been put into place. Yet IT research exhibits few studies in understanding the types of behaviors that yield new and useful ways of using organizational systems. This research therefore examines the creative use of technologies by individuals, that is, the implementation of novel and useful ways of applying organizational systems to solving business problems. Drawing on a wellestablished body of literature on creativity/innovation, a theory-based conceptualization of creative use is developed. Creative use is then assessed as the dependent variable in the context of Bandura's (1986) self-efficacy theory, which posits the necessity of domain-related self-efficacy and knowledge as prerequisites for creative use. The results support the theorized model and further suggest that breadth of knowledge is the most influential for creative use.