How do Individual‐Level Factors Affect the Creative Solution Formation Process of Teams?

Abstract

The generation of creative solutions involves nonlinear dynamic procedures that can only be achieved through the creativity of individual team members. Thus, it is important to understand how the formation of individual‐level creativity factors influence the creative solution formation process. The creative solution formation process can be divided into four phases: idea generation, idea screening, idea development and solution verification. Prior research suggests that the creative process may be affected by motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), knowledge stock (explicit and tacit), individual creativity (intelligence and divergent thinking), and pressure (challenge and time). We tested the effects of these eight factors on performance in the idea generation and idea development phases by conducting an experiment. Our results indicate that intrinsic motivation, intelligence and divergent thinking have a significant positive effect on both idea generation and idea development. Tacit knowledge and challenge pressure have a significant positive effect on idea generation. Time pressure has a significant negative effect on idea development. We also show that both idea generation and idea development have a significant impact on the quality of the final creative solution.