The Psychoeconomic View of Creative Work in Groups and Organizations

Although most research on creativity deals only with individuals, there are many settings in which creative tasks are assigned to groups. Indeed, in most contemporary research settings collaborative inquiry is the norm. Extensions to the psychoeconomic theory of creativity provide several specific predictions about the nature and optimization of group creativity. These predictions are based on consideration of the ways in which some individual differerences in creative style, such as domain experience and flexibility of thinking, are likely to interact. Instead of characterizing such attributes as conducive or harmful to the creative process, the psychoeconomic theory explicitly recognizes their potential for contributions in both directions. In particular, the theory implies that groups should be composed of heterogeneous participants who vary in their experiences within the domain in question, and who are only moderately familiar with one another, for most successful creative performance. This proposal is contrary to several theories which imply greater success from more congenial and symmetric groups. The theory also yields detailed predictions for how the optimal composition of a creative group should vary in response to changes in the characteristics of the group's members and the structure of its working environment.