Who or What Creates? A Conceptual Framework for Social Creativity

Creativity is increasingly understood as a social phenomenon, especially in organizational contexts. This article offers a conceptual framework for social creativity that integrates perspectives from published literature. The foundational questions that structured the literature review are twofold. First, because both individuals and entities, such as teams, can be agents of creativity, who or what creates? Second, through what sites of action or contexts does creative engagement by individuals, groups, and organizations occur? An integrative review of the literature reveals that the engagement occurs in individuals, in individuals interacting, in group work, and in complex multilevel systems. A concept map is used to represent the literature in this domain. This is then discussed with reference to the representative authors in each of the identified sectors. A set of names for the outcomes of the creative process is suggested, including individually generated creative outcomes, socially influenced creative outcomes, socially constructed creative outcomes, and socially generated creative outcomes.

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