When Roles Are Unclear: How Resilience, Interdependence, and Emotion Sharing Sustain Creativity

What is it about?

This study investigates how role ambiguity—uncertainty about job responsibilities and performance expectations—affects employees’ creative behavior, and how certain individual, task, and relational resources can buffer this negative impact. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, the author argues that when employees face unclear roles, they lose psychological and cognitive resources, leading to lower motivation to develop and share innovative ideas. However, these resource losses can be mitigated when employees have access to resilience, task interdependence, and emotion sharing. Using survey data from employees in a large renewable energy organization in Canada, the study finds that role ambiguity lowers creativity, as unclear expectations discourage initiative and innovation. However, this effect weakens among resilient employees who adapt to uncertainty, in interdependent teams that promote collaboration, and in workplaces with open emotion sharing. These resources help employees view ambiguity as a challenge rather than a threat, sustaining creative engagement. The findings demonstrate that organizations cannot always eliminate ambiguity—but they can counter its effects by cultivating personal strength, teamwork, and open emotional communication among employees.

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Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study is unique in showing how three resources—resilience (individual), task interdependence (job-related), and emotion sharing (relational)—jointly buffer the negative impact of role ambiguity on creativity. Grounded in COR theory, it explains how employees sustain creativity under resource-draining conditions. Rather than merely reducing ambiguity, the study highlights how resource-building strategies can turn stressful situations into creative opportunities. It is also timely, as modern workplaces, especially in innovative industries like renewable energy, frequently involve evolving roles and dynamic expectations. The study highlights that creativity under such conditions depends not only on clarity but also on the social and emotional ecosystem employees operate within. For leaders, the implication is clear: fostering resilient mindsets, collaborative structures, and emotional openness helps preserve creative output even when uncertainty is unavoidable.