Post-communist burden influence on the perception of creative identities : consequences for managers and leaders

Abstract

Purpose: Communism, being one of the most repressive systems, influences the whole spec-trum of behaviors of individuals, groups, and society. Countries that changed their politi-cal system start a journey of external (economic, social) and internal (personal, interper-sonal, group) changes. The post-communist burden determines human behavior, and man-agers and leaders should pay attention to these consequences. The research deals with the perception of creative identities (a creator, artist, manager, entrepreneur, and leader) by the society of post-communist countries compared to countries without communist history. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitive research (n = 160) among people from a dozen nations; chi-square test of independence used; qualitative analysis of feature differences. Findings: There are no statistical differences in the perception of the creative identities of a creator, artist, manager, entrepreneur, and leader between citizens of post-communist and non-communist countries. Practical implications: The study in perception of the particular creative identities might have practical implications for managers and leaders of groups, and business organiza-tions dominated or not by creative individuals. These differences are shown in detail, and links between this research results and the literature are built. Originality value: The originality of the research lies in the conclusion that societies that finished their intercourse with communism more than one generation ago (ca. 30 years) should be perceived similarly to non-communist societies. Perception of the creative indi-viduals' social capital by these societies does not show essential discrepancies.