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An emerging body of research suggests constraints can either hinder or facilitate creativity and innovation in organizations depending on a variety of factors, including how the constraints are perceived by those engaged in creative work. When perceived as a source of creative challenge or opportunity, for example, constraints can motivate creative engagement and subsequently enhance creative performance. Despite the importance of perceptions like these, research examining the variables likely to influence perceptions of constraints is scarce. In fact, although leaders are often responsible for identifying and communicating constraints to those engaged in creative work, little research has examined communication strategies leaders might use to shape perceptions of constraints in a manner that drives creative engagement and performance. In this experimental study, we examined how a leader’s use of two constraint framing strategies—convergent and divergent—might differentially influence performance on three creative processes—problem definition, idea generation, and idea evaluation. Additionally, we examined whether the effects of these framing strategies are contingent on participants’ creative self-efficacy and the timing in which constraints are introduced throughout the creative process. The findings provide evidence for divergent constraint framing as an effective strategy by which leaders can promote engagement in creative processes and enhance creative performance, particularly when constraints are introduced during early stages of a creative effort. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for organizational leaders are also discussed.

Organizational leaders are often presented with novel, complex, and ill-defined problems that call for creative problem-solving. Furthermore, the socially embedded nature of leadership problems requires that leaders develop solutions in light of the needs, concerns, and perspectives of key organizational stakeholders. Put differently, to solve creative problems leaders must engage in effective sensemaking to understand the mental models of stakeholders. However, little research has investigated the impact of understanding stakeholders’ mental models on the creative performance of leaders. In this study, participants were asked to generate a solution to an educational problem. Prior to solution generation, however, they were presented with case information about three stakeholders and were asked to depict the mental model of each stakeholder. Findings indicated that a more accurate understanding of stakeholders’ mental models resulted in enhanced performance across multiple creative criteria. Additionally, it was found the successful execution of various cognitive sensemaking strategies was related to a more accurate understanding of stakeholders’ mental models. The implications of these findings for understanding and enhancing leadership performance in organizations are discussed.