Charlotte Bergmans

A Risk-Taking Approach to Boost Creativity

[Academic Project]

– Creativity & Innovation Project 2024,
Master Business Communication and Digital Media

As part of the Creativity & Innovation course in my Master’s program in Business Communication and Digital Media, me and my team had to come up with a creativity tool that we had to test in an experimental setting. To add a deeper and more personal dimension to our project, we explored potential gender differences in risk-taking behavior, aiming to shed light on the gender gap in creative industries.

Our work included an academic paper, with the abstract provided below, as well as a compelling pitch and an infographic poster summarizing our method and findings.

ABSTRACT
Gender imbalances persist in the creative industry, despite a majority of female students, resulting in women being underrepresented in the workforce due to various factors. One contributing factor to this gap is the association of certain stereotypical masculine traits, such as risk-taking, with creativity, particularly in the context of idea generation. This study proposes a creativity support tool aimed at fostering risk-taking behavior to mitigate gender discrepancies in creative teams. The tool, tested in a brainstorming session, employs methods such as thought-speed enhancement, impulsivity, and improvisation to increase risk-taking. However, results indicate no significant difference in self-assessed risk-taking nor a moderation by gender. Nonetheless, the tool significantly increases idea generation quantity. Future research should explore alternative measurement tools and consider personality traits’ potential moderating effects on creativity.