Does Polish Post-Communist Cultural Burden Influence the Perception of Creative Identities?

Abstract Objective: Post-communist countries, affected by decades of one of the most repressive political systems, are perceived as a particular area of gaps in social capital. These gaps influence the whole spectrum of behaviors of individuals, groups, and society. Countries that changed their political system start a journey of external (economic, social) and internal (personal, interpersonal, group) changes. The post-communist burden determines human behavior, so leaders and managers should pay attention to these consequences. The research deals with the differences in perception of creative identities (a creator, artist, manager, entrepreneur, and leader) by Polish society compared to other countries without communist history. Methodology: Quantitative research (n = 160) in the form of a survey among people from Poland and other countries. Verification of hypotheses by chisquare test of independence used (SPSS, MS Excel). Next, a qualitative analysis of discrepancies was undertaken (NVivo). Findings: There are no statistical differences in the perception of creative identities of a creator, artist, manager, entrepreneur, and leader between citizens of Poland and citizens of other countries. The additional qualitative analysis exposed that differences in perception of the creative identities between investigated societies might have necessary consequences while managing or leading groups (and organizations) dominated by creative individuals. These differences are shown in detail, and links between our research results and the literature are built. Value Added: It looks like a post-communist burden in current Poland has a minimal impact on the perception of creative individuals. Thus, it can be said that communism disappears from the social capital during one generation (ca. 30 years). Recommendations: Further research exploring the perception of creative identities by different analogical groups of compared societies would be valuable.