MUSES · Prosocial Motivation and creativity in work, career, society: Researching the role of prosocial & autonomous motivation for creatively resilient and innovative behavior in different work contexts

Interdisciplinary research shows that our lineage survived while all other human species went extinct because our ancestors used their creative capacity to reshape the threats and opportunities of their environments, in turn reshaping themselves. As our world and working environments become increasingly dynamic, uncertain, and knowledge based, organizations and social challenges depend on creative ideas and creative resilience from employees, young people and entrepreneurs. As Teressa Amabile posits “only by using multiple lenses simultaneously, looking across levels, and thinking about creativity systematically, will we be able to unlock and use its secrets. What we need now….is to tie together and make sense of the diversity of perspectives found in the literature – from the innermost neurological level to the outermost cultural level”. A growing body of empirical work suggests that giving to others and perceiving that we, as humans, have positive impact though our work is beneficial for own resilience, well-being and creative nature (Martela & Ryan, 2016, Eshel et al., 2017). MUSES is aiming to moving away from the cognitive-behavioral dichotomy and by adopting a more systemic approach focus on the rewarding/motivational effect of perceived social impact and aims at capturing patterns of proactive & creatively resilient behavior of different samples where rewards are not absolutely institutionalized and thus are of lower importance whereas motivation is the key & dominant element. Thus, MUSE aims to research the relationship between prosocial & autonomous motivation (perceived social impact & affective commitment to the welfare of the beneficiaries), and resilience creativity in different contexts (employees, students, doctors, artists & volunteers). Our research aims at offering insights and important practical implications on how contextual factors can boost autonomous and prosocial motivation and thus lead to a more creatively reliant workforce/organisation