56 Chapter 3 mental energy may be essential for creativity to arise. For example, research suggests that energy and vitality relate positively to employee creativity (Atwater & Carmeli, 2009; Kark & Carmeli, 2009), most likely because vitality promotes and enables active involvement in creative behavior. Furthermore, mental energy and cognitive factors such as working memory capacity, cognitive persistence, and attention have been found to promote creative thoughts and ideas because they enable “focused and systematic combining of elements and possibilities” (De Dreu et al., 2012; p. 656; Nijstad, De Dreu, Rietzschel, & Baas, 2010). Higher levels of energy and cognitive capacity may thus be helpful to direct attention towards relevant stimuli, to focus on the problem at hand, and to gather information. Moreover, various scholars have argued that positive energy or moods (e.g., joy, enthusiasm) broaden people’s thought-action repertoires and may promote cognitive variation and flexibility, which can promote creativity (e.g., Amabile, Barsade, Mueller, & Staw, 2005; Baas, De Dreu, & Nijstad, 2008; Fredrickson, 2001). Taken together, these studies suggest that physical and mental energy are valuable resources that may be needed for creativity to arise. We propose that people may proactively manage these resources when and how they feel the need to, for example in anticipation of challenging work tasks, problems that need to be solved, or when pursuing creative endeavors. In this process, the individuals themselves take control and are actively involved in activities to manage their levels of physical and mental energy. In turn, this may help them to perform (more) creatively in their work. Hypothesis 1. Proactive vitality management is positively related to creative work performance. During weeks in which individuals engage in vitality management, they will be able to perform more creatively at work. Self-Insight Although there may certainly be individual differences in the extent to which people proactively engage in vitality management, an important assumption that underlies our research is that, in general, “people strive to retain, protect and build resources” (Hobfoll, 1989, p. 513). However, it may be that for some people, working on their levels of vitality is more effective than for others. That is, while most individuals may be able to recognize a personal need for physical and mental energy from time to time, people with a higher level of self-insight may be more accurate in assessing their feelings, needs and preferences in this process. Self-insight is seen as a personal characteristic
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