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Creativity and Unethicality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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Martin Storme
Martin Storme
Pinar Çelik at IESEG School of Management
Pinar Çelik
Nils Myszkowski at Pace University
Nils Myszkowski
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Abstract

A growing line of research suggests that creativity and unethicality are intrinsically related to one another. However, the idea has been challenged both by theoretical arguments and by heterogeneous empirical findings. In the present work, we review the literature to reconcile seemingly opposed theoretical views on the relationship between creativity and unethicality. We then conduct a meta-analysis to clear up confusion about heterogeneous empirical findings in the literature (k = 36, N = 6783). We find a weak positive correlation between the 2 constructs (r = .09, 95% confidence interval [.01, .17], t = 2.24, p < .05). Consistent with social desirability response bias theory (Randall & Fernandes, 1991), we find that the correlation is significant in studies that rely upon objective measures of unethicality—that is, behavioral measures or other-reports—but not in studies that rely upon self-reports of unethicality. Altogether, our work suggests that creativity and unethicality are positively related as predicted by theory, and that some studies have failed at finding it because they used self-reports to assess unethicality rather than objective measures. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.
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Creativity and Unethicality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Martin Storme
IESEG School of Management and LEM-CNRS 9221
Pinar Celik
Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
Nils Myszkowski
Pace University
A growing line of research suggests that creativity and unethicality are intrinsically related to one
another. However, the idea has been challenged both by theoretical arguments and by heterogeneous
empirical findings. In the present work, we review the literature to reconcile seemingly opposed
theoretical views on the relationship between creativity and unethicality. We then conduct a meta-
analysis to clear up confusion about heterogeneous empirical findings in the literature (k⫽36, N⫽
6783). We find a weak positive correlation between the 2 constructs (r⫽.09, 95% confidence interval
[.01, .17], t⫽2.24, p⬍.05). Consistent with social desirability response bias theory (Randall &
Fernandes, 1991), we find that the correlation is significant in studies that rely upon objective measures
of unethicality—that is, behavioral measures or other-reports— but not in studies that rely upon self-
reports of unethicality. Altogether, our work suggests that creativity and unethicality are positively
related as predicted by theory, and that some studies have failed at finding it because they used
self-reports to assess unethicality rather than objective measures. Theoretical, methodological, and
practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: creativity, unethicality, meta-analysis
Creativity is considered one of the most important skills for the
21st century (Trilling & Fadel, 2009) because it is the source of
many technological and social advances (Shen, Yuan, Yi, Liu, &
Zhan, 2019). However, there are also many examples of the dark
side of creativity (Shen et al., 2019), leading some researchers to
wonder whether creativity is intrinsically linked to unethicality
(Gino & Ariely, 2012;Gino & Wiltermuth, 2014). Indeed, re-
search suggests that being creative tends to give a strong sense of
entitlement, helps finding justifications, and facilitates a rule
breaking mindset, which all can lead, in turn, to unethical behav-
iors (Vincent & Goncalo, 2014;Gino & Ariely, 2012;Gino &
Wiltermuth, 2014).
Nevertheless, the idea that creativity and unethicality are intrin-
sically related has been challenged both theoretically— by research
arguing that creativity is positively related to prosocial tendencies
(Xu & Mehta, 2015;Grant & Berry, 2011)—and empirically— by
heterogeneous findings across studies that investigated the phe-
nomenon. Researchers are thus left with many interrogations. Are
there valid theoretical objections to the idea that creativity and
unethicality are positively related? What could explain empirical
studies yielding seemingly different conclusions? Eventually, such
interrogations lead researchers to the ultimate question: Is creativ-
ity really positively related to unethicality?
In the present work, we start by reviewing theoretical frame-
works arguing that creativity and unethicality are positively re-
lated. We then review the literature that argues that creativity is
positively related to prosocial tendencies and we present the eth-
ical dissonance theoretical framework (Barkan, Ayal, & Ariely,
2015;Barkan, Ayal, Gino, & Ariely, 2012) as a way to reconcile
the seemingly contradictory relationships between creativity,
prosocial tendencies, and unethicality. Finally, we provide a meta-
analytic estimate of the correlation between creativity and unethi-
cality, and we investigate the moderating role of methodological
factors to explain the heterogeneity in findings.
Defining Creativity and Unethicality
Creativity and ethicality are regularly considered crucial quali-
ties for the 21st century. For example, the National Research
Council (2013) has cited both creativity and ethical decision mak-
ing abilities in its list of the 21st century knowledge and skills that
should be taught to children as a priority issue. Creativity and
ethicality are also important outcomes in the business world.
XMartin Storme, People, Organizations, and Negotiation, IESEG
School of Management, and Individus, Organisations et Société, LEM-
CNRS 9221; Pinar Celik, Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School
of Economics and Management; Nils Myszkowski, Department of Psy-
chology, Pace University.
All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Martin
Storme, People, Organizations, and Negotiation, IESEG School of Man-
agement, 3 Rue de la Digue, Lille 59000, France. E-mail: martinstorme@
ymail.com
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
© 2020 American Psychological Association
ISSN: 1931-3896 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000332
2021, Vol. 15, No. 4, 664–672
664
This article was published Online First June 29, 2020.
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