Unlocking group creativity: Leveraging flexibility, persistence, and convergence ideation pathways

Abstract

This study seeks to unravel the emerging process of group creativity as to explore how educational context can be structured to support the natural development of collaborative creativity. We proposed a Triple Pathway Model of group creative ideation and examined it through the lens of ideation pathway. Totaling 240 participants were recruited to complete one creative ideation task with a partner. The group creativity, ideation pathways were encoded and assessed based upon the participants’ responses. Results showed that the flexibility, persistence, and convergence pathways jointly, positively predicted group creativity. The flexibility pathway positively predicted the creativity of the group's top idea. The convergence pathway, contributed to group creativity not only by itself, also by stimulating the flexibility and persistence pathways. Transition between ideation pathways indirectly facilitated group creativity through stimulating three pathways. These insights encourage educators to consider how to foster students’ collaborative creativity by leveraging these three ideation pathways.