Date of Award

Fall 12-19-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PhD)

Department

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

First Advisor/Committee Member

Helen H. Chung

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Audrey Kinase Kolb

Third Advisor/Committee Member

Vatia Caldwell

Keywords

Neurodiversity, creative self-efficacy, autonomy, social support, componential theory of creativity, work design

Abstract

Reports from the business world highlight the competitive advantage that neurodiversity can provide for workplace creativity and innovation through the inclusion of workers who represent a broad range of perspectives and abilities. However, while neurodivergent individuals have naturally divergent ways of thinking, producing creative works might not come as easily in workplaces designed for neurotypical forms of thinking and working. Drawing from the componential theory of creativity, this study sought to explore how neurodivergence, as it relates to creativity-relevant processes, and work characteristics related to the social environment can influence creativity across the various stages of the creative process. While there are several stages to the creative process, this study focused on how the idea generation stage relates to creative self-efficacy, a precursor to other creative outcomes. The hypothesized model for this study proposed that creative idea generation leads to creative self-efficacy, but that the relationship is moderated by neurodivergent status (neurotype) and work characteristics including autonomy and social support. Findings from survey data including 321 participants suggested neither autonomy nor neurotype had a significant impact on the relationship between creative idea generation and creative self-efficacy. However, higher social support was more helpful in enhancing CSE for individuals less prone to idea generation than for those who frequently generate ideas. When social support is low, workers who do not generate ideas often have considerably lower CSE than workers who frequently generate ideas. In contrast, when social support is high, whether or not workers generate ideas frequently, they will tend to have higher CSE. Overall, this study highlights the importance of social support and the limitations of autonomy for facilitating the creative process in a neurodiverse workforce.

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