Furnham/Crump: DOI 10.18536/bcce.2015.07.1.1.10

Jump to: Business Creativity and the Creative Economy | Volume 1, Issue 1

Furnham, A., & Crump, J. (2015). The creativity of people in different work sectors. Business Creativity and the Creative Economy, 1(1), 88-93. http://dx.doi.org/10.18536/bcce.2015.07.1.1.10

The Creativity of People in Different Work Sectors

Adrian Furnham
University College London
Norwegian Business School

John Crump
Norwegian Business School

Abstract

Attraction-Selection-Socialisation theory suggests that people in different work sectors would be different in their level of creativity. Using divergent thinking as an indicator variable of creativity, this study compared adults from six different job sectors, controlling for their sex, age and personality. The sample was drawn from a data file established by a large British psychological consultancy specializing in selection and assessment. There were more than 9000 working adults in the sample tested over a period of more than 10 years. They completed a standard personality test and gave details about their work history. Those in retail and consulting scored highest, while those in engineering and manufacturing scored lowest on two factors (fluency and originality) derived from the test. Implications and limitations of the study are considered.