(The) effect of spending money and time on creativity

Abstract

this relationship is observed only for unmarried employees. In sum, this dissertation discovers how spending two important resources of human lives—money and time—for close others (e.g., family, friends, and loved ones) affects the spender's creativity.

Money and time are the two most precious resources people spend on a daily basis. When we exclude money and time spent in the workplace, people spend money and time with close others, such as family, friends, and loved ones. The consequences of spending money and time are mostly limited to positive emotional benefits. The current research proposes that spending money on close others diminishes the spender’s creativity. This relationship is explained by construal level theory (CLT). CLT proposes that a person's psychological distance (or proximity) to an object or event changes its mental representation at a high (or low) level. Thus, spending on close others orients the spender to focus on social proximity, thinking concretely at a low-level construal. Results show that while spending on close others brings emotional benefits, these come at the cognitive cost of hampering creativity. Additionally, the effect of fit between close-other spending and spenders' cultural backgrounds on creativity is observed. Specifically, close-other spending increases creativity for spenders with collectivistic cultural backgrounds and hampers creativity for those with individualistic cultural backgrounds. Finally, this research demonstrates the effect of time spent with family on creativity among full-time employees. Results show that spending time with family increases creativity compared to the control condition