Thinking Outside the Square: Business Students' Conceptions of Creativity

Abstract

Creativity is an important attribute of a successful graduate of higher education, recognised by universities and employers alike. In this paper, we investigate ideas about creativity that were discussed during interviews by a group of business students at a university in Sydney, Australia. Using a phenomenographic approach, we identified three levels of conceptions of creativity, labeled Definition, Attribute, and Comprehensive, from the narrowest and most limited to the broadest and most inclusive. We discuss the characteristics of these different ways of viewing creativity and the pedagogical implications of our findings for business education (and higher education generally).

This research was funded by a grant from the World Bank/Global Development Network's Asia-Pacific Education Policy Research Initiative administered by the Korean Educational Development Institute (details online at http://eng.kedi.re.kr/).