Does creativity matter?: assessing roles of creativity on international involvement

Abstract

This study investigates the direct role of organizational creativity - as a leading resource - during the international involvement as well as proposes that organizational creativity nurtures both innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities as mediators for the international involvement of the firm. In an objective sense, the innovative capability mediates such relationship once creativity nurtures innovation. In a subjective sense, entrepreneurial capability intermediates this relationship while offering alternatives to solve problems when the firm faces the uncertainty inherent in the international arena. The empirical investigation took place in firms embedded in the Brazilian audiovisual industry, resulting in 78 valid responses. This research is an exploratory-descriptive study built in two main stages: Firstly, an exploratory stage investigated not only the literature but also the environment using interviews with experts to enlarge knowledge about the field. Secondly, a descriptive stage evaluated the field by a quantitative approach based on a survey. The analysis technique applied was regression analysis. Results confirmed the hypotheses designed in this research. We found evidence that there is a direct relationship between organizational creativity with international involvement. Moreover, it was evident that the relationship between organizational creativity with the international involvement intensifies when innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities mediate this relationship. Limitations of this study reflect its singularity. Besides investigating a subjective theme, the research covered just one industry of creative economy in just one country, Brazil. The study has implications in several spheres, such as theoretical, organizational, industrial, and public policies. The originality of this study encompasses not only an explanation of the role of organizational creativity in the international involvement of firms engaged in the creative economy, but also contributes to enlarge and take together theoretical approaches about creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization, at the organizational level of investigation.