Purpose

The use of social media is an integral part of modern life, yet the impact of social media on creativity is a paradox. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the authors propose that social media, as an ecological condition, both nurture and deplete resources. Accordingly, the authors investigated two inconsistent mechanisms: creative self-efficacy and ego depletion.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 established the within-person effects of social media use on creativity by tracking 64 college students for five working days. Using a sample of 493 employee–leader-matched dyads in a national bank, Study 2 tested the entire model. Study 3 is a follow-up experiment based on a sample of 160 participants.

Findings

The results consistently showed that: (1) social media use had a positive impact on creativity in general; (2) social media use increased ego depletion and creative self-efficacy, which were two inconsistent mediators; (3) hedonic use of social media reduced the negative impact of cognitive use of social media on ego depletion.

Originality/value

This research sheds new light on the paradox between social media use and creativity and highlights the benefits of the balanced use of social media features. This research has implications for creative stimulation and job design in digital contexts.

中文翻译：

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双刃剑：社交媒体的使用和创造力

目的

社交媒体的使用是现代生活不可或缺的一部分，但社交媒体对创造力的影响却是一个悖论。作者借鉴资源保护理论，提出社交媒体作为一种生态条件，既会培育资源，也会消耗资源。因此，作者研究了两种不一致的机制：创造性自我效能和自我损耗。

设计/方法论/途径

研究 1 通过跟踪 64 名大学生五个工作日，确定了社交媒体使用对创造力的内部影响。研究 2 使用一家国家银行 493 名员工与领导匹配的二人组样本测试了整个模型。研究 3 是一项基于 160 名参与者样本的后续实验。

发现

结果一致表明：（1）社交媒体的使用总体上对创造力产生积极影响；（2）社交媒体的使用增加了自我损耗和创造性自我效能感，这是两个不一致的中介因素；（3）社交媒体的享乐性使用减少了社交媒体的认知使用对自我损耗的负面影响。

原创性/价值

这项研究为社交媒体使用与创造力之间的悖论提供了新的线索，并强调了平衡使用社交媒体功能的好处。这项研究对数字环境下的创造性刺激和工作设计具有重要意义。