Creative thinking and innovation

Course Contents:
Many organisations are not only interested in productive effort of their employees, but also in creative thinking and innovation. However, creativity and innovative behaviour is difficult to contract on as output on these aspects is difficult to measure and the input-output relationship sometimes unclear. In recent years, there is an increasing stream of literature in management accounting that looks in particular at mechanisms that stimulate creativity in firms.

The task of this capstone assignment is to provide an overview on this literature, discuss possible gaps in the literature, and as final part, provide two different research questions that have not been addressed in the literature but that are highly relevant both for organisational practice and academic knowledge.

Below is a list of studies that you have to include in your assignment. Be aware, though, that you are required to find additional studies on the topic and that you need to discuss and cite them correctly. Published articles can be found on EBSCO and ECONLIT, working papers are available on SSRN. For further instructions, please consult ELEUM and the general guidelines for capstone assignments.

Literature:
Brüggen, A., C. Feichter, and M.G. Williamson. 2014. Motivating Performance on Routine Tasks to Inspire Creativity: The Role of Management Control Systems. Working paper, Maastricht University.

Chen, C. X., M. G. Williamson, and F. H. Zhou. 2012. Reward system design and group creativity: An experimental investigation. The Accounting Review 87 (6):1885-1911.

Grabner, I. 2014. Incentive System Design in Creativity-Dependent Firms. The Accounting Review 89 (5): 1729-1750.

Hecht, G., I. Tafkov, and K. L. Towry. 2012. Performance Spillover in a Multitask Environment. Contemporary Accounting Research 29 (2):563-589.

Kachelmeier, S. J., B. E. Reichert, and M. G. Williamson. 2008. Measuring and motivating quantity, creativity, or both. Journal of Accounting Research 46 (2):341-373.

Kachelmeier, S. J., and M. G. Williamson. 2010. Attracting creativity: The initial and aggregate effects of contract selection on creativity-weighted productivity. The Accounting Review 85 (5):1669-1691.