Innovative Deviance: An Investigation of the Relationships between Social Control, Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

There is a plethora of research investigating deviance and its effect on individuals and the organization on one hand, and the beneficial effects of creativity and innovation on the other hand. However, there is a lack of unifying conceptualization about the relationship between deviance, creativity and innovation. In this paper, we introduce the concept of “innovative deviance” and tie it to the construct of positive deviance. Building upon merton’s social strain theory and the positive deviance literature, we discuss the reasons behind why employees positively deviate from organizational norms to be innovative.