Sharing Knowledge, Sparking Creativity: How Resources Multiply Innovation

What is it about?

This study explores how employees’ efforts to share knowledge with colleagues can boost creativity, and how this process is strengthened by three key resources: passion for work, time sufficiency, and procedural justice. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, it argues that employees use and invest their existing resources—like skills, relationships, and enthusiasm—to generate new ideas when they believe such investments will yield further rewards. Survey data from bank employees in Mozambique—a context of hierarchy and limited flexibility—show that knowledge sharing directly promotes creative behavior. Employees who exchange ideas often gain both skill and motivation to generate innovative solutions. This effect strengthens when they feel passionate about their work, have sufficient time, and perceive fairness in organizational decisions. In such environments, creativity thrives because employees feel energized, supported, and rewarded for their efforts. The study concludes that creativity thrives when shared knowledge meets supportive conditions. Passion fuels engagement, time sufficiency reduces stress, and procedural justice builds trust—together creating a resource-rich environment where employees feel confident to propose and implement novel ideas. For organizations, especially in structured industries like banking, the message is clear: creativity can be cultivated not only by promoting collaboration but also by ensuring fair, balanced, and motivating work contexts.

Featured Image

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study is unique because it integrates individual, job, and organizational resources into a single model explaining how knowledge sharing translates into creativity. Rather than assuming that exchanging knowledge automatically leads to innovation, it demonstrates that creativity emerges only when employees possess the emotional (passion), cognitive (time), and contextual (justice) resources to sustain and apply shared insights. It is also timely, as modern organizations depend increasingly on knowledge-driven collaboration yet face burnout, time pressure, and fairness concerns. By providing evidence from Mozambique’s banking sector, the study broadens the global understanding of creativity under resource-constrained conditions. Its message is both practical and optimistic: even in challenging environments, when employees feel supported and valued, sharing knowledge can ignite innovation—turning collective insight into creative progress.