Navigating the Paradox of Originality and Usefulness: The Roles of Distinct Error Climates in Fostering Team Radical Creativity

Team radical creativity inherently involves a paradox between high originality and usefulness. Yet, few studies shed light on an effective strategy for navigating the originality-usefulness paradox of team radical creativity. Drawing on the Motivated Information Processing in Groups Model, this study investigates how and when distinct error climates work together to reconcile this paradox and stimulate team radical creativity. We conducted a field study in high-technology companies, including electronic communications, bio-pharmaceutical technology, advanced manufacturing and automation, and aerospace technology industries. We collected data from 125 research and development (R&D) teams involving 686 employees. Our results show that (1) error management climate exerts a positive influence while error aversion climate exerts an inverted U-shaped influence on team radical creativity through motivating or demotivating team information exchange and (2) task reflexivity moderates the indirect positive influences of error management climate and low to moderate levels of error aversion climate on team radical creativity through team information exchange. We conclude that the combination of a high level of error management climate and a moderate level of error aversion climate is conducive to reconciling the paradox of originality and usefulness and fostering team radical creativity.