The dual pathway to creativity model: implications for workplace creativity

Some theories of creativity emphasize that creative ideas result from random processes and benefit from states of reduced cognitive control (e.g., mind-wandering, distraction, and defocused attention), whereas other theories emphasize systematic search processes and the deployment of cognitive effort. The dual pathway to creativity model (DPCM) integrates these views and posits that two qualitatively different processes, flexibility and persistence, may both lead to creative ideas. The DPCM also states that different traits and (psychological) states can influence creativity through these different pathways, and that their effectiveness may depend on situational opportunities and constraints. This conceptualization has important implications for how to stimulate creativity at work, and suggests a number of new and testable hypotheses.