As startups go remote, what happens to creativity? A qualitative study on remote work's effect on creativity in startups

Abstract: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work policies have been increasingly adopted by start-up companies. As creativity is needed for startups to bring new ideas to the market, it is relevant to understand how remote work policies might affect creativity. This thesis aims to find out how remote work affects creativity in startups, by conducting a qualitative study. To assist the study, a combined model of Media Richness Theory and Amabile's KEYS model for organizational creativity, created an understanding of how predictors of creativity might be affected depending on the media for communication in remote and office work environments. Data was collected from 12 semi-structured interviews with employees from five startups with a technical product. This cross-sectional study found that remote work affects creativity in startups by diminishing the positive relationship that encouragement and serendipity has on creativity. On the other hand, it is also found that remote work amplifies the positive relationship that resources have on creativity. Regarding autonomy, remote work negatively affects creativity in collaborative situations, and positively affects creativity when working individually. This study could assist startups in their navigation of remote work policies as well as provide an understanding of the effect that it has on creativity. The study could further provide a new perspective of remote work environments to existing research on creativity.