Innovation is often discussed in terms of technology, strategy, and leadership. Yet, the cognitive and emotional conditions that enable creative thinking within organizations are rarely addressed as strategic levers in themselves. Drawing on cross-national secondary data from the 4 Day Week Global programs, this chapter proposes that job recovery practices linked to reduced workweeks serve as foundational elements in innovation capacity. It develops a conceptual framework (the Recovery-Innovation Cycle Framework) that positions recovery as an essential mechanism for building innovation-focused organizational cultures. A comparison with similar conceptual models from the literature on organizational change and work redesign is conducted. The chapter also explores how human resources (HR) policies can structurally support a recovery-based innovation culture. Recovery is reframed as cultural infrastructure that sustains both performance and adaptive capacity in fast-changing environments. This chapter contributes a new approach to innovation culture rooted in human sustainability.
Bezzaz, Y. (2027). Restorative Work Cultures: The Missing Link Between Job Recovery and Innovation. In I. Lampropoulos, A. Tsameti, V. Bellou, A. Kakouris, & T. Kolympari (Eds.), Behavioral Perspectives on Organizational Performance, Learning, and Innovation (pp. 279-310). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3373-9205-9.ch009