Title: Can multicultural experience stimulate creativity? The moderating role of regulatory focus

Authors: Shu-Ching Chang; Jen-Wei Cheng; Tsung-Yu Wu; Jin-Long Wang; Cheng-Ze Hung

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University, 250 Zhong Shan N. Rd., Sec. 5, Taipei 111, Taiwan ' Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Kee-Lung Rd., Section 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan ' Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan ' Department of Information and Telecommunications Engineering, Ming Chuan University, 250 Zhong Shan N. Rd., Sec. 5, Taipei 111, Taiwan ' Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Kee-Lung Rd., Section 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan

Abstract: Innovation is crucial to the success of organisations and is a core capability for their long-term survival. Creativity is the starting point of innovation. A number of studies have found that multicultural experiences can stimulate creativity. Nonetheless, the boundary conditions of this influence have yet to be fully elucidated. This study investigated whether one's regulatory focus moderates the relationship between multicultural experience and creativity. We adopted an experimental approach based on the manipulation of multicultural experience and regulatory focus with 120 students (study 1) and 120 executives (study 2) as participants. The results of evaluating their creativity indicated that multicultural experience exerts a significant influence on creativity. Furthermore, regulatory focus moderates the relationship between multicultural experience and creativity. These findings' on multicultural learning and creativity have important implications for human resource management and global learning.

Keywords: creativity; multicultural experience; regulatory focus; multicultural learning; innovation; regulation; culture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2017.083403

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2017 Vol.21 No.3, pp.329 - 347

Received: 14 Oct 2015
Accepted: 11 Jan 2016
Published online: 27 Mar 2017 *

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