Seeing the Forest and Trees: How Construal Level Diversity Shapes Team Creativity

This study examines how team construal level diversity influences creativity. Drawing on construal level theory, we propose that construal level diversity fosters creativity via task conflict, contingent on team reflexivity. Using two-wave, multi-source data from 97 teams in a North American mortgage company, results show that reflexivity amplifies both the emergence of task conflict from construal level diversity and its translation into creativity. Thus, the indirect effect of construal level diversity on creativity through task conflict occurs only when reflexivity is high. This study extends construal level theory to teams and underscores reflexivity’s role in converting diversity into creative synergies.