Making an Impact with Creativity A Case Study on Designers’ Creativity in Impact-driven Organisations.

Creativity is becoming increasingly important for organisations in the creative industries to satisfy consumers’ demands for novelty and originality. Recently, the Dutch design industry has been characterised by distinct innovation and creativity as digital technologies have enabled digital design to flourish. In the last decade, expectations of sustainability have grown in the design industry, as designers are increasingly expected to create products that have a positive impact on people and society. In order to guide consumers in their choices, a number of third parties and labels verifying the provided information has risen, among which the B Corp. The aim of this thesis is to explore the connection between impact-driven organisations in the creative industries and the creativity of their employees. Therefore, this thesis investigates how the impact-driven missions of design organisations influence the creativity of their employed designers. To answer the research question, a single-embedded case study has been conducted in a Dutch design agency by means of interviews with designers, ethnographic participant observation and analysis of company documents. The collected data has been analysed by means of a thematic analysis and the results have shown how the conceptualisation of creativity in the creative industries needs further research. The results develop an overview on what creativity means to designers and what conditions are needed to spark or boost it. Moreover, the findings suggest that impact-driven missions influence the creativity of designers in four ways, that are by acting as a filter, through the culture, by giving direction and by ensuring safety. The exercised influence is therefore largely positive and indirect, as the mission affects creativity only by providing a specific work environment. These findings reveal that the way in which creativity emerges in organisations in the creative industries is still partly unclear and that certain characteristics that are required for employees to be creative can be easily generated by an organisational mission directed towards having a positive impact on the world and on society.