EFFECTS OF ROUTINE TASKS ON CONSUMER CREATIVITY

Abstract

The current research investigates the effects of routine tasks on consumer creativity. Specifically, it proposes that individuals made to do routine tasks even for a few minutes, as compared to those who do not, will suffer from mental rigidness and hence make use of local processing style. The use of local processing style will lead to processing shift which will cause them to be less creative. Three studies examined this hypothesis. Experiment 1 found that the participants who completed a routine task were more likely to use local processing style as compared to their counterparts in the control condition, who used more global processing style. Local processing style, compared to global one, has been found to hurt creativity. Experiment 2 found that routine task will reduce creativity when measured with the Remote Association Task (RAT). Further, experiment 3 demonstrated people with low psychological reactance were more likely to be influenced by routine tasks.