The Effects of High Individual Task Conflict Asymmetry on the Independent Selfʼs Creativity

We examine the consequence of high task conflict asymmetry, perceiving higher task conflict than the rest group members, on individual-level creativity. We focus on independent selves, who put value on expressing their ideas, and hypothesize that the situation under high task conflict asymmetry would foster their creativity. Considering a high task conflict asymmetry situation as seriously problematic to demonstrate their own ideas, independent selves would put more cognitive efforts to resolve such a challenging condition. To test our hypothesis and investigate the causal link, we implemented an experiment and collected data from 107 participants. Our analysis demonstrates that independent selves show a higher level of creativity under a high (vs. low) task conflict asymmetry situation. In addition, this relationship is mediated by their enhanced cognitive persistence (i.e., the ability of in-depth and elaborate thinking). We further discuss implications and theoretical contribution of our findings on conflict asymmetry and independent self on individual-level creativity.