The Influence of Ingratiation and Intimidation in Creative Thinking Skills (A Field Study on Workers in Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Northwestern Syria)

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the impact of managers both impression management styles, ingratiation and intimidation, in employees’ creative thinking skills in non-government organizations operating in northwest Syria. The study adopted the descriptive approach and used a questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection. The study sample consisted of (403) employees working in (NGOs) in northwest Syria, distributed between international organizations (60.3%) and local organizations (39.7%). The study also employed statistical methods provided by SPSS Statistics to analyze the data and test the hypotheses.

The results showed that employees in the studied organizations perceive that managers practice ingratiation at a high level, with a mean score of (3.708), while intimidation is practiced at a lower level, with a mean score of (2.564). All dimensions of creative thinking skills recorded mean scores above the neutral value (3), indicating a high level of these skills among employees. Moreover, the relationship between ingratiation and creative thinking skills, on the one hand, was found to be weak, with a correlation coefficient (r = 0.181), where ingratiation explained variations in fluence, originality, flexibility, and overall creative thinking skills by (2.3%), (4.7%), and (3.3%) respectively. Intimidation, on the other hand, explained variations in problem sensitivity and risk skills by (1.5%) and (1.1%) respectively. The combined effect of both ingratiation and intimidation on creative thinking skills was also limited, with a coefficient of determination (R² = 0.05), meaning that only (5%) of the variance was explained.