'Be Creative!': Control, Demand, Hypocrisy, and the Management of Creativity

Our paper challenges the “romantic” notion of creativity being good and liberating. Interpreting the empirical evidences from two organizations, based in India and Sweden, respectively, it presents how creativity and creative process are strangling because they are controlled and demanded in organizations. In doing so, we put forth the idea of hypocritical creativity in organizations. Our study highlights the shortcomings of the dominant perspective on creativity and suggests the need for further empirical studies that examine creativity critically in different contexts.