In the behavioral sciences, collective creativity, in analogy to collective intelligence, is the shared human ability to generate new ideas and solutions together in a creative process. It occurs when social interactions lead to new interpretations and discoveries which individual thinking could not have generated. [1] [2]
In a business context, enterprises try to tap the combined creativity of their employees and how this creativity can be managed and tapped so as to create innovation. [3] [4] [5]
When many of us think about innovation ...we think about an Einstein having an 'Aha!' moment. But we all know that's a myth. Innovation is not about solo genius, it's about collective genius
— Linda Hill [5]
A more natural fostering environment for collective creativity, however, can be found in the sciences, arts and literature where a certain degree of unmanaged self-organization can take place. [6] Musical collective improvisation is an outstanding exemplification of artistic collective on-the-spot creation. Academic conferences can be breeding grounds for (spontaneous) development of new scientific ideas.
Several components have been identified as the basis of collective creativity, with diversity (in perspectives, cultures, etc.) from and thus even controversial ideas among the contributing individuals being one of the most prominent ones. [2] [6]
A similar concept can be found in distributed creativity that emphasizes the potential "scatteredness" of the contributing individuals.
Social collaboration as a collective creative processes has been found to thrive on the "edge of chaos". [7]
Creativity is individual, and it is social. The social aspects of creativity have become of increasing interest as systems have emerged that mobilize large numbers of people to engage in creative tasks. We examine research related to collective intelligence and differentiate work on collective creativity from other collective activities by analyzing systems with respect to the tasks that are performed and the outputs that result. Three types of systems are discussed: games, contests and networks. We conclude by suggesting how systems that generate collective creativity can be improved and how new systems might be constructed.
... in opposition to the traditional ideal of the individual as creative genius, cultural theorists today emphasize the collaborative nature of creativity; they show that 'creativity makes alterity, discontinuity and difference attractive'
The findings indicate that five distinct variables may support teams and groups in developing their (collective) creativity: a structured process, work-related team diversity, boundary openness, adequate resources, and support of relevant technology.