“The Innovation They Accept” - Exploring how power influences creative synthesis in organizations
(2025) BUSN49 20251Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- This study explores how power influences the process of creative synthesis within organizational settings. While previous research has emphasized the value of diverse perspectives for creativity, less attention has been given to how power dynamics influences which ideas are heard, enacted, and legitimized. Drawing on Harvey’s (2014) model of creative synthesis and Fleming and Spicer’s (2014) four faces of power, we conduct a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Anchored in the interpretative tradition and guided by an abductive approach, our analysis identifies four types of power that influences the creative synthesis process: gatekeeping, framing, legitimacy, and normalization. We argue that these forms of power... (More)
- This study explores how power influences the process of creative synthesis within organizational settings. While previous research has emphasized the value of diverse perspectives for creativity, less attention has been given to how power dynamics influences which ideas are heard, enacted, and legitimized. Drawing on Harvey’s (2014) model of creative synthesis and Fleming and Spicer’s (2014) four faces of power, we conduct a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Anchored in the interpretative tradition and guided by an abductive approach, our analysis identifies four types of power that influences the creative synthesis process: gatekeeping, framing, legitimacy, and normalization. We argue that these forms of power operate not only in moments of decision-making but also influences the broader conditions under which creativity unfolds. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that creative synthesis does not unfold in a vaccum, and can thereby not be fully understood without critically examining how power influences the dynamics of both idea development and integration. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9192801
- author
- Ericsson, John LU and Tsakiris, Alexandra LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN49 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- creative synthesis, power, creativity, influence, collaboration
- language
- English
- id
- 9192801
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-23 09:43:15
- date last changed
- 2025-06-23 09:43:15
@misc{9192801,
abstract = {{This study explores how power influences the process of creative synthesis within organizational settings. While previous research has emphasized the value of diverse perspectives for creativity, less attention has been given to how power dynamics influences which ideas are heard, enacted, and legitimized. Drawing on Harvey’s (2014) model of creative synthesis and Fleming and Spicer’s (2014) four faces of power, we conduct a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Anchored in the interpretative tradition and guided by an abductive approach, our analysis identifies four types of power that influences the creative synthesis process: gatekeeping, framing, legitimacy, and normalization. We argue that these forms of power operate not only in moments of decision-making but also influences the broader conditions under which creativity unfolds. Our findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that creative synthesis does not unfold in a vaccum, and can thereby not be fully understood without critically examining how power influences the dynamics of both idea development and integration.}},
author = {{Ericsson, John and Tsakiris, Alexandra}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{“The Innovation They Accept” - Exploring how power influences creative synthesis in organizations}},
year = {{2025}},
}