Well Recovered and More Creative? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Vacation and Creativity

Christine J Syrek; Jessica de Bloom; Dirk Lehr

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.784844

Well Recovered and More Creative? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Vacation and Creativity

Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 23:12:784844. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.784844. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Christine J Syrek¹, Jessica de Bloom^{2

3}, Dirk Lehr⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Business Psychology, Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Rheinbach, Germany.
² Department of Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
³ Department of HRM & OB, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Health Psychology and Applied Biological Psychology, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Lueneburg, Germany.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate employees' self-reported creativity before and after vacation and to examine the impact of recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, mastery, meaning, autonomy, affiliation) on changes in creativity. The DRAMMA model of Newman et al. provides the theoretical background of our approach. Longitudinal data was assessed with four repeated measurements. The study encompassed data from 274 white-collar workers. Analyses showed that employees subjectively perceive their creativity to benefit not immediately after their vacation but 2 weeks later. Detachment was significantly related to lower creativity within persons, while mastery experiences explained differences in creativity between persons. This study provides a detailed picture of changes in creativity around vacations.

Keywords: DRAMMA; changes in creativity; detachment; holiday; longitudinal; mastery; recovery; vacation.