When Norms Suppress Ideas: How Creativity Loss Reduces Employees’ Entrepreneurial Intentions

What is it about?

This study examines why employees in paid work may hesitate to start their own businesses, focusing on the role of workplace creativity. Based on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, it argues that when societal norms discourage initiative, employees experience psychological resource loss that dampens creativity. This reduced creative energy lowers their entrepreneurial intentions, meaning they are less willing to start a business. Thus, social and cultural constraints indirectly hinder entrepreneurship by draining the resources that fuel new ideas. Using survey data from public-sector employees in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the study finds strong evidence for the proposed mediation. Employees who believe their society discourages entrepreneurship show lower creativity, which explains their weaker entrepreneurial intentions. Risk tolerance buffers this effect—those comfortable with uncertainty are less harmed by restrictive norms. However, passion for work offers no similar protection. These results support COR theory, showing that resource-generating traits like risk tolerance help counter social adversity. The findings underscore that creativity loss is a critical psychological barrier linking unsupportive cultural norms to employees’ reluctance to start businesses. For entrepreneurship stakeholders, the study highlights the need to build work environments and societal narratives that legitimize initiative-taking and risk engagement—particularly in public-sector settings where conformity pressures may be strong.

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Photo by ZQ Lee on Unsplash

Photo by ZQ Lee on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is unique in identifying diminished work-related creativity as the psychological mechanism explaining why limited normative support reduces employees’ entrepreneurial intentions. By integrating COR theory with the sociocultural barriers to entrepreneurship, the study clarifies how external norms can drain an individual’s internal resource base—specifically creative energy—thereby shaping entrepreneurial motivation. It also contributes conceptually by showing that risk tolerance, rather than passion for work, acts as a critical buffering resource in this process. The study is particularly timely in the context of ongoing efforts to foster entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates, where many employees—especially in the public sector—face strong normative expectations favoring job security over risk-taking. The findings offer practical insights for policymakers and organizational leaders: to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems, they must not only offer financial and institutional support but also nurture employees’ psychological resources by validating creativity, encouraging experimentation, and normalizing initiative as a socially supported behavior.