These musings are prompted by the ongoing dialogue on creativity. I am an "old guy" currently completing a dissertation entitled An Investigation of Training in Creative Problem Solving and its Relationship to Affective and Effective Idea Generation of Entrepreneurial Learners as part of a degree in Computing Technology in Education. My views are the result of an eclectic set of experiences including: a 20 year career as an entrepreneur serving the needs of mechanical and electrical engineers, education as an accountant and an MBA, mentor for the lead entrepreneur of four high tech start ups and co-director for a national (675 students annually in Canada) month long residential program for gifted grade 11 and 12 students with interests in math, science, engineering and entrepreneurship. Yes, I have spent month of July for the past four years with 50 high energy high school students 24/7 working with faculty members from engineering, math and computer science. Along the way I and a colleague in electrical engineering, Dr. <st1:personname w:st="on">Tim Little</st1:personname>, have explored a variety of ways to bring creativity training into the classroom (Leach, 2007; Leach & Little, 2004).
MEASUREMENT
There is an article by Michael Couger written from the engineering side that does a nice job delineating the tools for measuring creativity and placing creativity in context (Couger et al., 1990). There have been several references to Michael Kirton's work and the use of the KAI (Kirton Adaption Innovation Inventory) (Kirton, 1976a, 1976b, 1985a, 1985b, 1989). I had completed the KAI as part of a course on Human Computer Interaction and scored a 152/160 indicating that I was 5 standard deviations off the norm and had an unusual preference for being innovative creative. It was not until I spoke with Michael Kirton that I was able to appreciate what the instrument measured and how it was to be used. He pointed out that the instrument was designed to be used by accredited psychoanalysts who needed to complete a training program. When completed the analyst would then be able to integrate the instrument into their psychotherapy practice. He took pains to point out that the use of the instrument by untrained practitioners like myself was inappropriate and unsanctioned. At that time (2003) he had discontinued the sale of the instrument to unaccredited users. He did point out in the process that the KAI instrument did not "measure how creative we are but rather how we are creative - our preference for being creative". He further pointed out that significant differences in KAI scores require "coping" behaviors for team members to be able to be functional. Another measure of preference for creativity is the Creative Problem Solving Profile (CPSP) developed by Basadur. In one study it was found that a disproportionate number of the business students fell into the optimizer (37%) and implementer (33%) quadrants while only 13% fell into the generator and 17% into the conceptualizer quadrants (Basadur et al., 1990).
THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
If creativity is seen as an enabling pedagogy in the production of entrepreneurial ideas (Hisrich & Peters, 2001; Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2003; Kuratko & Welsch, 2003; Timmons & Spinelli, 2004, 2006) then it is important to understand the relationships between creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Creativity is the production of novel and appropriate solutions to any domain of human activity. Innovation is the implementation of the ideas generated in the creative process. Entrepreneurship can then be said to be a particular form of innovation that results in the creation of a new business, or a new initiative within an existing business. Entrepreneurial creativity can include ideas that may have to do with: products or services themselves, identifying a market, ways of producing or delivering, ways of obtaining resources (Amabile, 1997). Amabile's early work suggested that while intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity, extrinsic motivation is detrimental (Amabile, 1983). When creativity is encouraged in educational settings dissonance is likely to result as creative behaviours are often out of tune with the behaviours that lead to academic success. In the educational system it is acknowledged that breaking the rules is what makes you smarter yet this behaviour may well lead to confrontation with instructors (Mauzy et al., 2003).
Recent articles suggest that creativity has a role in opportunity recognition dependent on which model one subscribes to. The cognitive explanation suggest that training in creativity could assist in enhancing pattern recognition skills (Baron, 2004, 2006). If you subscribe to the view that opportunities have objective existence over time and that the nexus of the opportunity, prior knowledge and the entrepreneur allow specific entrepreneurs to discover/recognize specific opportunities then creativity training could assist in making links across information corridors. Saranson sees the nexus as a duality and uses a structuration approach that opportunities are not objective, persistent over time and awaiting discovery. "The structuration view presents entrepreneurial ventures as recursive processes that evolve as the entrepreneur interfaces with the sources of opportunity and engages in the venturing process." (Sarason et al., 2006) Creativity training in this context as providing tool to the entrepreneur to better interpret and influence their environment.
INNOVATIVENESS EQUALS GOODNESS
In the early dialogue in this thread I perceived that innovativeness was being equated with the quality of an idea – the more innovative it was the better it was. In one recent investigation of the impact of creativity training the KAI was used as an independent variable and novelty/innovativeness used to rank the quality of the resulting ideas.(DeTienne & Chandler, 2004). The coring of innovativeness was based on work done by Fiet (Fiet, 2002). Perhaps the view that innovative ideas are superior is related to the process of creative destruction first identified by Schumpter (J.A. Schumpeter, 1934a, 1934b, 1936; J. A. Schumpeter, 1942). This seems at odds with Bhave's suggestion that innovative ventures are far riskier and typically take longer to initiate (Bhave, 1994). It also seems at odds with my conversations with a colleague who is a former patent agent who suggests that the 80-85% of patents are filed for adaptations to existing patents.
I am currently working my way through the logic to support the view that a quality idea is first and foremost one that the entrepreneur is passionate about and feels a sense of connectedness with. It is this fire in the belly that will allow the entrepreneur to commit the personal energy needed to see them through venture. In making this suggestion I am not for a minute suggesting that the venture screening tools proposed by Timmons and others are inappropriate (Timmons & Spinelli, 2006) but rather that they need to be augmented to explicitly include the commitment/connectedness dimension.
Amabile, T. M. (1983). Social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(2), 357-376.
Amabile, T. M. (1997). Entrepreneurial creativity through motivational synergy. Journal of Creative Behavior, 31(1), 18-26.
Baron, R. A. (2004). Opportunities recognition: Insights from a cognitive perspective. In E. B. John (Ed.), <st1:place w:st="on">Opportunity</st1:place> identification and entrepreneurial behavior. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Greenwich</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">CT</st1:state></st1:place>: Information Age Publishing.
Baron, R. A. (2006). <st1:place w:st="on">Opportunity</st1:place> recognition as pattern recognition: How entrepreneurs "connect the dots" to identify new business opportunities. 20(1), 104-119.
Basadur, M. S., Wakabayashi, M., & Graen., G. B. (1990). Attitudes toward divergent thinking before and after training: Focusing upon the effect of individual problem solving styles. Creativity Research Journal, 3, 22-32.
Bhave, M. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of Business Venturing, 9(3), 223-242.
Couger, J. D., Higgins, L. P., & McIntyre, S. C. (1990). Differentiating creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, copyright and patenting for is. Product/processes. IEEE, 370-379.
DeTienne, D. R., & <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chandler</st1:place></st1:city>, G. N. (2004). <st1:place w:st="on">Opportunity</st1:place> identification and its role in the entrepreneurial classroom: A pedagogical approach and empirical test. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place> Learning and Education, 3(3), 242-257.
Fiet, J. O. (2002). The systematic search for entrepreneurial discoveries: Quorum Books.
Hisrich, R. D., & Peters, M. D. (2001). Creativity and the business idea. In Entrepreneurship (5th ed., pp. 164-193). <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New York</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">NY</st1:state></st1:place>: McGraw Hill.
Kirton, M. J. (1976a). Adaptors and innovators: A description and measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 622-629.
Kirton, M. J. (1976b). Field independence and adaption-innovation theories. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 1239-1245.
Kirton, M. J. (1985a). Adaptors and innovators: Cognitive style and personality. In S. G. Isaksen (Ed.), Fronteirs of creativity research: Beyond he basics (pp. 282-304). <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Buffalo</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">NY</st1:state></st1:place>: Bearly Limited.
Kirton, M. J. (1985b). Adaptors, innovators and paradigm consistency. Psychological Reports, 57, 487-490.
Kirton, M. J. (1989). A theory of cognitive style. In M. J. Kirton (Ed.), Adaptors and innovators: Styles of creativity and problem solving (pp. 1-36). <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>: Rutledge.
Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. M. (2003). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process and practice (2nd ed.). Mason OH: South-Western.
Kuratko, D. F., & Welsch, H. P. (2003). Strategic entrepreneurial growth (2nd ed.). Mason OH: South-Western.
Leach, C. E. (2007). Instruction-based action guidelines built on bloom's revised framework: Setting objectives for entrepreneurship teaching. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Jan.
Leach, C. E., & Little, T. (2004, June). Weaving innovation into the fabric of engineering education. Paper presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Annual Meeting, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Quebec City</st1:place></st1:city>.
Mauzy, J., Harriman, R., & Arthur, K. A. (2003). Creativity inc.: Building an inventive organization. <st1:city w:st="on">Boston</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA</st1:state>: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Harvard</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Business</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.
Sarason, Y., Dean, T., & Dillard, J. F. (2006). Entrepreneurship as the nexus of individual and opportunity: A structuration view. Journal of Business Venturing, 21(3), 286-305.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1934a). Chapter 2. In The theory of economic development. <st1:city w:st="on">Cambridge</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA</st1:state>: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Harvard</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1934b). The theory of economic development. <st1:city w:st="on">Cambridge</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA</st1:state>: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Harvard</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1936). The theory of economic development (2nd ed.). <st1:city w:st="on">Cambridge</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA</st1:state>: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Harvard</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1942). Capitalism, socialism and democracy. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>: Harper & Brothers.
Timmons, J. A., & Spinelli, S. (2004). New venture creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st century (6th ed.). <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Timmons, J. A., & Spinelli, S. (2006). New venture creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st century (7th ed.). <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
-----Original Message-----
From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:<st1:personname w:st="on">ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU</st1:personname>] On Behalf Of Plant, Robert
Sent: December 8, 2006 1:04 PM
To: <st1:personname w:st="on">ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU</st1:personname>
Subject: Re: [ENTREP] How to measure creativity in entrepreneurs
Dear all
Just to add to the debate, I used Amabile's constructs in a case study: "Creative Entrepreneurship at iconstruye: A Pan Andean e-Procurement Market Maker" which will appear in ET&P (March 2008). It is a study of a B2B start-up in Santiago de Chile. The construct provided a good model for examining the founders' behavior and their responses to the problems encountered. I'm now using her model and instrument in several other studies.
Regards
Robert Plant
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Miami</st1:placename>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Coral Gables</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">FL.</st1:state></st1:place>
________________________________________
From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:<st1:personname w:st="on">ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU</st1:personname>] On Behalf Of J. Nixdorff
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:07 AM
To: <st1:personname w:st="on">ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU</st1:personname>
Subject: Re: [ENTREP] How to measure creativity in entrepreneurs
Hi Ricardo (and All),
Measuring creativity in any population (such as entrepreneurs) is an enormous challange. Creativity researchers have been trying to sort it out for years, and haven't yet come to a consensus. Many creativity "tests" make the assumption that creativity is a trait - and then you face the idea that "some have it and some don't." Yet, research on creativity training is now showing that creativity can be enhanced with training. I suggest you might, before you decide on an instrument, check articles by Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, and Herron (1996), Runco and Chand (1995), and Ford (1996) for a different perspective. At the least, they will give you fodder for limitations of any research you might conduct.
Hope this helps,
Janet Nixdorff
The George Washington Univesity
nixdorff@gwu.edu
----- Original Message -----
From: Norris Krueger
To: <st1:personname w:st="on">ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU</st1:personname>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: [ENTREP] How to measure creativity in entrepreneurs
Ricardo - I would suggest contacting Lisa Gundry at DePaul; she knows more about this than about anyone. (Also, Jill Kickul @ <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Miami</st1:place></st1:city> and Jeff Stamp @ UND; lgundry@depaul.edu, kickuljr@muohio.edu, jeff.stamp@mail.business.und.edu - Jeff's most recent work is danged fascinating) I feel rather cheeky responding, given their expertise, LOL.
Measuring creativity in any population can obviously be a challenge. Jack Savidge makes a great point that "creativity" to be a productive quality will vary across the lifecycle. Kirton's measure of creative *style* is intriguing, though it's essentially a commercial project. [There have been studies using Kirton such as Buttner, et al.] One could be highly creative in terms of path-breaking radical innovation, yet awful at incremental ideas -and vice-versa. Creativity at divergent thinking can differ mightily from creativity at convergent thinking.
If you are assessing style (type of creativity rather than quantity) you might also look at Allinson & Hayes's Cognitive Style measure. Keith Brigham [kbrigham@ba.ttu.edu ] has done a lot with that as has Eugene Sadler-Smith [e.sadler-smith@surrey.ac.uk]. Dr. Kickul & I have used CSI very productively too.
As for measuring?
The classic Torrence approach measures creativity on multiple dimensions. [Lisa/Jill/Jeff, if I screw this up, bail me out! LOL] After eliciting ideas ("how many things can you do with a pencil?") you can judge the fluency (sheer number of ideas), novelty (number of unique ideas) and utility (assess the value of the ideas) - one can also ask judges to assess how 'big' or how 'radical/incremental' the ideas are.
Training in divergent thinking tends to increase all these dimensions, even if it's just "how to brainstorm 101". For example, in the classroom I've provided brief scenarios, then asked students to ideate (then measure a la Torrence) -and look at what drives the quantity and especially quality of the ideas. Self-efficacy in the scenario situation seems to be a big driver, about as powerful as the training at divergent thinking.
Good luck!
Norris
On 11/29/06, <st1:personname w:st="on">Ricardo Jesús Bolaños Barrera</st1:personname> <ricardob@itesm.mx> wrote:
Those any one has an instrument to measure creativity in the entrepreneur?
Not the innovation in the business, but the creativity in the person.
Best regards
Ing. Ricardo B olaños Barrera ( ricardob@itesm.mx)
Director de la Incubadora de Empresas
División de Posgrados e Investigacion
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de México
Teléfono: (5255) 5864.5555 extensión 3464
Fax: (5255) 5864.5779
enlace-intercampus: 80.236.3464,
http://www.itesm.mx
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Norris Krueger, Jr., Ph.D.
Teams / Entrepreneurship Northwest
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"I criticize by creation, not by finding fault" -<st1:city w:st="on">Cicero</st1:city> ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place>. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!
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This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place>.
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