Enhancing Team Creativity Through Paradoxical Frames: Exploring the Role of Conflict and Integrative Complexity

Abstract

Using multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM), this study examines how paradoxical frames enhance team creativity through the mediating roles of sense of conflict and integrative complexity. Although paradoxical frames are known to foster cognitive flexibility at the individual level, their impact on team creativity remains underexplored. We conducted a two-week design-thinking exercise with 235 undergraduate students (59 teams) assigned to high or low paradoxical frame conditions. Results indicate that paradoxical frames influence team creativity indirectly through their effects on sense of conflict and integrative complexity. Teams exposed to high paradoxical frames reported greater cognitive conflict, promoting deeper engagement with diverse perspectives. Additionally, paradoxical frames increased integrative complexity, enabling individuals to synthesize opposing viewpoints into creative solutions. Results confirmed a full mediation structure, whereby the effect of paradoxical framing on team creativity operated entirely through these two mediators. These findings extend paradox theory by demonstrating how paradoxical frames transform cognitive tensions into creative outputs at the team level. By identifying sense of conflict and integrative complexity as mediators, we contribute to research on paradox cognition in collaborative settings. Practically, these results provide insights for organizations aiming to leverage cognitive tensions to foster innovation in teams.