Comparing the roles of creativity and digital nativity in predicting general and IT innovativeness

Purpose The study compares the effects of creativity and digital nativity, with the latter signifying proficiency in digital skills, on enhancing innovation among employees. The research specifically evaluates the impact of creativity and digital nativity on general innovative performance and personal innovativeness using IT (PIIT). Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted. Study 1 surveyed 497 individuals on Prolific using objective measures of general innovative performance and self-report measures of PIIT. Study 2 replicated the same research design on Amazon Mechanical Turk with 336 participants and other-rated measures of PIIT. Findings Results were consistent across both studies and showed that creativity influenced general innovative performance more than digital nativity. However, digital nativity was a stronger predictor of PIIT, above and beyond the nonsignificant effects of creativity. Research limitations/implications This study helps understand the roles that digital nativity and creativity play in general innovative performance and in IT-related innovative performance by providing a relative importance analysis of these components. Practical implications We offer guidance to organizations on how to select individuals and assign them to particular tasks depending on digital or general innovative task requirements. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the direct comparison of creativity and digital nativity. Although the literature highlights the importance of digital nativity for innovation, our research reveals that creativity is more important for general innovative performance.