Organizations often assume that creative performance can unfold under time constraints; however, creative performance literature has tended to theorize time pressure as a stressor that inhibits creativity. The current study was proposed to understand whether or not individuals can be creative under time pressure, and to study the role of affective states as mediators in the relationship between time pressure and creative performance. Intellect, a facet of Openness, was examined as a moderator in this relationship. Results showed that Intellect failed to moderate the relationship between time pressure and affect. Furthermore, when creative performance was studied as creative performance behaviors and creative outcome effectiveness, differential findings emerge for key relationships. Negative affect, but not positive affect, mediated the relationship between time pressure and creative outcome effectiveness, but neither negative nor positive affect mediated the relationship between time pressure and creative performance behaviors. In addition, while high-perceived time pressure was related to negative affective states, it was not related to reduced positive state affect. Additionally, positive affect, as opposed to negative affect, was related to higher quantity and quality of ideas generated. Together these findings show that there is an indication that the effects of time pressure on creative performance vary depending on the type of affective state induced by time pressure. These results further shed light on the mixed findings in affect and creative performance literature and highlight the importance of studying process mechanisms rather than just limiting ourselves to an understanding of main effects.
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