Developing Creative Leadership in the Use of Digital Communication Tools: A Psychological Perspective

Abstract

Creative organizations have shifted their daily communication to the virtual environment in response to COVID-19. This study examines how media use affects the communication effectiveness between creative leaders and followers from a psychological perspective by reviewing the comprehensive literature on creative leadership, media use, and psychological distance. A mixed-method methodology is employed to investigate ten common media configurations. The findings indicate that configured digital communication tools create certain levels of psychological distance between leaders and followers. Thus, it is crucial for creative leaders to match the psychological distance of different media and construal orientations of creative tasks to cultivate followers’ creativity. Using reflective interviews with creative professionals, we determined the impact of psychological distance on creative leadership from three aspects: task performance, member feelings perception and technology selection. We also identified several situations that might hinder creativity. To conclude, this study proposes a “Cognitive Model of Media Use Strategy in Creative Leadership”, which aims to bridge the gap between creative leadership theory and media use theory from the organizational psychology perspective. This study confirms that psychological distance exists in the digital environment, thus expanding the application scenarios of “Construal Level Theory” as well as providing practical implications for media selection in creative leading processes.