Information systems and creativity management in the media and advertising industries: a critical view

Recent literature points to the increasing importance of creativity in organizational context and a positive relationship with organizational performance. While there is ample literature on the use of information systems (IS) to support the management of other drivers of organizational performance, the relationship between IS and creativity management in organizational context has received little attention. At the same time, it appears that creative processes, which are central in such industries as media and advertising, are difficult to order and manage. What is the nature then of the relationship between IS and the management of creativity in organisations? The paper addresses this issue by critically examining Amabile’s work on creativity management from an IS perspective – drawing on empirical findings from case studies in the media and advertising industries. While Amabile's framework is found to provide a general creativity management framework applicable to the case of IS, it needs to be extended and refined. IS were found to support creativity, but also to undermine it if not managed carefully. The main organizational implications are: challenge, freedom, resources, work-group features, supervisory encouragement and organizational support are required, along with support for shared context and stimuli support, and caution against overemphasis of technological capabilities supporting creative production at the expense of creative ideation itself.