Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by University of Florida For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group

more »

... ublishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. Abstract Purpose -The aim of this paper is twofold: to propose a new theoretical framework to interpret organizational creativity as a process of situated and distributed cognition in a sense-making perspective; and to identify the system of tools which influences this process. Design/methodology/approach -The analysis developed in the paper is theoretical, as it is rooted in a rich literature review concerning organizational creativity and in the proposal to enrich these studies by applying a cognitive and a sense-making perspective. Findings -The paper provides a novel framework as well as new levels of analysis. Originality/value -Compared with previous contributions, the main theoretical thesis is that a firm's creativity is achieved only if some of the well-established mediating structures that influence creativity are intentionally broken or renewed. This proposal can provide insights for researchers and managers as well.