Fashion Designers' Creativity inside Organizations & Job Satisfaction – A case study

Abstract

Creativity leads to innovation hence to new ways to be more competitive in the current economic situation. Fashion brands and organizations have been improving this magic formula since decades and studies on organizational creativity have bloomed. Originally published in 1939, the Hawthorne experience from Roethlisberger and William (2003), highlighted the importance of the workers’ job satisfaction (JS) to augment the levels of productivity inside organizations (Judge et al., 2001; Őnday, 2016). Regardless of how satisfied a given fashion designer is, one cannot deny that the level of JS will provoke a wave of behaviors and attitudes which will influence every element within the organizational system. In this study, validated correlations are presented to prove and showcase the importance of the fashion designers’ JS, and how it is connected to micro and macro contexts inside the workplace. The 114 (n=114) valid answers to an enquiry aiming to understand the role of different variables influencing the fashion designers’ self-perceived creativity (SPC) inside the organizations, unveiled several and statistical relevant correlations connecting different organizational contexts with workers’ JS. Organizational climate and culture (OCC) and SPC showcased strong correlations with JS (Barata & Miguel, 2022) as well as individual motivation (IM), as suggested by Amabile (1997) when referring that creativity has much to do with loving the work one does and Judge et al., (2001) regarding the role of passion to predict JS. The group climate (GC) presented a moderate influence in the JS rates (Rs=0,547) once group climate can influence trust, autonomy, safety, behaviors, workflow, among other topics within the working teams. As stated in the theory, models and instruments to measure organizational creative climate and innovation (e.g., Amabile & Pratt, 2016; Blomberg & Kallio, 2017; Ekvall, 1996), well defined goals and criteria for excellence (GCE) are correlated to JS in a positive moderate sense (Rs=0,472). The existence of resources (RE) within the workplace are directly linked to increased JS; they are correlated in a moderate and positive way (Rs=0,514) as they are tied to the perception and feeling of how far one’s creative developments may reach (T. M. Amabile & Pratt, 2016; Andriopoulos & Lewis, 2010; Epstein et al., 2013; Woodman et al., 1993).Considering the positive correlations (0 to 1), the study provides clear evidence of unidirectional symbiotic ratio between JS, IM, SPC, OCC, GC, GCE and RE.

Keywords: Fashion Designer, Creativity, Organization, Job Satisfaction

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003319