Enhancing Creativity as Innovation via Asynchronous Crowdwork

Conference paper (2022)

Authors

P.K. Murukannaiah Interactive Intelligence - EEMCS
Nirav Ajmeri University of Bristol
Munindar P. Singh University of North Carolina
Research Group
Interactive Intelligence (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2022 P.K. Murukannaiah, Nirav Ajmeri, Munindar P. Singh
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3501247.3531555
Crowdsourcing Innovation Teamwork Creativity Personality
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Published Date

2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Intelligent Systems

Research Group

Interactive Intelligence

Abstract

Synchronous, face-to-face interactions such as brainstorming are considered essential for creative tasks (the old normal). However, face-to-face interactions are difficult to arrange because of the diverse locations and conflicting availability of people - a challenge made more prominent by work-from-home practices during the COVID-19 pandemic (the new normal). In addition, face-to-face interactions are susceptible to cognitive interference. We employ crowdsourcing as an avenue to investigate creativity in asynchronous, online interactions. We choose product ideation, a natural task for the crowd since it requires human insight and creativity into what product features would be novel and useful. We compare the performance of solo crowd workers with asynchronous teams of crowd workers formed without prior coordination. Our findings suggest that, first, crowd teamwork yields fewer but more creative ideas than solo crowdwork. The enhanced team creativity results when Second, cognitive interference, known to inhibit creativity in face-to-face teams, may not be significant in crowd teams. Third, teamwork promotes better achievement emotions for crowd workers. These findings provide a basis for trading off creativity, quantity, and worker happiness in setting up crowdsourcing workflows for product ideation.