Awe and Workplace Creativity: A Quantitative Study of Cognitive Expansion, Small-Self Effects, and Divergent Thinking Performance

Hassan Zaheer Chandio

doi:10.5281/zenodo.21726117

Authors

Hassan Zaheer Chandio University of Karachi: Karachi, PK https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7501-4989

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21726117

Keywords:

awe, creativity, divergent thinking, small self, cognitive flexibility, Broaden-and-Build Theory, workplace innovation, behavioral science

Abstract

This study examines the role of awe experiences in fostering workplace creativity through a quantitative investigation of employees in creative industries exposed to awe-inducing versus neutral stimuli prior to engaging in creative problem-solving tasks. Grounded in Awe Theory (Keltner & Haidt, 2003) and Broaden-and-Build Theory (Fredrickson, 2001), the research explores the cognitive and affective mechanisms through which awe influences divergent thinking and idea generation. The sample comprises 100 employees who completed standardized creativity tasks following experimental priming conditions. Findings indicate that participants exposed to awe-inducing stimuli generated significantly more creative outputs, producing 34% more solutions than the control group (t = 4.28, p < 0.001). They also demonstrated 28% higher originality scores and 42% greater cognitive flexibility on divergent thinking measures. These results suggest that awe functions as a potent psychological catalyst for expanding cognitive boundaries and reducing habitual thought patterns. Mediation analysis reveals that the “small self” effect significantly explains this relationship, with reduced ego-focus facilitating increased perspective-taking and ideational fluency (indirect effect = 0.24, p < 0.01). Comparative analysis further shows that nature-based awe stimuli (e.g., vast landscapes) produce 26% stronger effects on creative performance than achievement-based awe stimuli (e.g., human technological or artistic accomplishments), indicating that different sources of awe differentially influence cognitive outcomes. Multiple regression analysis demonstrates that awe intensity (β = 0.34), small-self activation (β = 0.28), and openness to experience (β = 0.22) collectively explain 41% of variance in creative output. The study provides evidence that awe is a measurable and practically relevant driver of workplace creativity. It contributes to behavioral science by clarifying the psychological mechanisms linking self-transcendent emotions to cognitive expansion and offers applied implications for organizational innovation strategies, workplace design, and creativity enhancement interventions in professional settings.

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