How to detect and measure the creative potential and creativity for entrepreneurship

The world is constantly changing because change is part of life; how dreary would the world be if people’s lives were based on a constant and repetitive routine. Life is a chaos dramatized by humans in order to restore his balance. In a complex teaching system, we can see an open door for studying behavioural forms: when we have information and resources fluid slowly with few links, people’s behaviour is stable, their actions are predictable and controlled. Meanwhile, when the system when the system performs a hard control, people’s behaviour is bumpy, random, and fragmentary, which leads to stagnation and disintegration of the system. Therefore, a system on the verge of disintegration produces an endless array of variety and innovation, where behaviour should not be stuck with an established pattern or be assumed to be unstable, but is recognized as transformative. Here arises the need to create things, to transform the world so that it is more attractive, less monotonous, giving us access to a huge diversity of goods and services that enable wellbeing and employability. One of the consequences of a chaotic environment is creative entrepreneurial behaviour, which requires the alteration of previous behaviour, making necessary changes in learning.

The European Commission’s Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan  1 shows us how important investment in entrepreneurship education is: it expects entrepreneurial education and training to support growth and business creation, creating new foundations that increase the prevalence and quality of entrepreneurial learning,. This means that we are involved in one of the highest return investments that Europe can make. Several surveys suggest that between 15% and 20% of students who participate in a mini-company programme in secondary school will later start their own company, a figure that is about three to five times greater than that for the general population  2 Whether or not they go on to found businesses or social enterprises, young people who benefit from entrepreneurial learning develop business knowledge and essential skills and attitudes — including creativity, initiative, tenacity, teamwork, understanding of risk, and a sense of responsibility. This is the entrepreneurial mindset that helps entrepreneurs transform ideas into action and also significantly increases employability. Thus, it is of the highest importance that the creative potential of people is detected and measured, since entrepreneurship is a core competency within the Community Framework 3.

Creative potential on a task, for example, can be defined as a set of containing personality traits, skills and creativity skills, and specialized domain-specific knowledge. This, in terms of creative self-efficacy, means that the creative person understands how to be creative but also incorporates broader aspects of creative potential, such as having the capability and the knowledge to perform the job well, and the perception of their ability to take risks in proving the viability of new creative ideas. Accordingly, the extent of the subject’s creative self-efficacy determines the likelihood that they apply effectively their creative potential and practiced form of creativity. Indeed, the relationship between creative potential and practiced creativity can be attenuated or enhanced by motivational factors of the subject, as equally as by contextual factors such as organizational support, supervision style, freedom, resources, teamwork support, workload, and organizational challenges or obstacles. So creativity can be stimulated through certain management practices such as autonomy encouragement; delegation; feedback; proposing goals and intellectually challenging tasks; the setting up of work teams with innovative environments, in accordance with the skills and employees personality; and through the use of flexible thinking and persistence behaviour. Moreover, many investigations about creative environments, from which creativity arises, depends on the leadership style practiced by managers. Administrators and managers should consider creativity as an important goal to be encouraged and to be achieved. Even some current research  4 indicates that creative work is stimulated when the proposed tasks involve complex and ill-defined problems: hence the need to obtain results from the generation of innovative and useful solutions.

Each of us represents a creative potential, that is to say we use our brain’s hemispheres to develop innovative and productive tasks in the monitoring of learning for personal procurement, interpersonal, instrumental, and technical skills. To go to the meeting of what we can do we intend to evaluate the creative potential of each one, It is believed that creative potential arises in childhood, when children have their own potential and initiatives recognized and incentivized by their parents, which helps them to become resolute in adult life and daring people who will speak and act in an innovative way. It seems true; when people feel that their actions will be recognized and valued, they will work better with more creative force. On the other hand, when people do not feel under the threat of losing their jobs, trapped by fears of change, or led by preconceptions into maintenance of the status quo, people lose the fear of innovation and reveal their creative capacities.

Hermann  5 indicates that creative potential originates in the brain, more properly in the left and right cerebral hemispheres which represent both sides of the human brain, analytical and creative functions representing the past and future, control the hands, and act according to the four mediators: rational, cautious, experimental, and sensitive. According to this, he introduced us to the second strategy we will examine, with the application of a questionnaire, the detection of the creative potential of each subject arising from the biological basis of brain function 6. The left hemisphere controls the right hand and analytic brain function: motor control, concern for detail, analysis of facts, objectivity, and immediate results. By using this hemisphere, the rational subject analyses, measures and criticize the results, it is realistic, uses the numbers and know how things work, is more cautious, establishes preventive measures, reliable, organized, is punctual and establishes plans.

The right hemisphere is divided into experimentation and sensitivity; the left hand controls and thus institutes the creative function. The right hemisphere is characterized by intuition, subjectivity, lateral thinking, fuzzy logic, and creativity. So what is revealed by the subject is the ability to experiment, to predict the future, to use imagination, speculate, calculate risks, display impetuosity, brake rules, like surprises, and jumping obstacles. On the other hand, it also makes the subject sensitive, and as such empathetic, sensitive, supportive of other people, verbally expressive, and responsive to emotional stimulation.

Then, we give an example of tests — questionnaires — used to detect the creative potential.

In the first questionnaire, items are arranged in pairs (a/b) and each member of the pair represents a preference. The subject must indicate a preference for each item, using a score from 0 to 5: a score of 0 means that the subject disagrees strongly with the premise, and 5 means that the subject agrees strongly. The scores for each item must add up to 5 (0 and 5, 4 and 1, 2 and 3, etc.). The subject cannot use fractions like 2.1 but only whole numbers.

As an example: 'I prefer':

1a. 'Thinking alone and in silence' (the subject assigns a score of 4).

1b. 'Interacting and passing the time with people' (the subject assigns a score of 1).

Then the subjects complete the questionnaire mentioned above, assigning respective scores:

I prefer...

1a □Thinking alone

1b □Interacting and passing my time with other people

2a □That people see me as an imaginary and intuitive person

2b □That people consider me as objective, accurate, and facing the facts

3a □Coming to conclusions through logic and careful analysis of the problem

3b □Examining the situation from what I feel and believe about people

4a □Planning, as needed, just before acting

4b □Planning in detail and in advance, based on predictions

5a □Getting the data records of people and being made to think and decide immediately5b □Talking freely and at length with people, stopping, reflecting and resolving the problem later

6a □Carrying out detailed plans drawn accurately

6b □Imagining and developing plans to execute them without necessarily following every detail

7a □Applying my ability to analyse situations and problems

7b □Experiencing situations and participating in movements with others, engaging in group discussions

8a □Avoiding hard deadlines or appointments

8b □Establishing a schedule and sticking with it

9a □Inquiry into the facts, situations, and problems privately before sharing my findings with others

9b □Discussing a new question or problem extensively, especially with the group of people involved or interested in the subject

10a □Abstract and theoretical issues

10b □Real and objective, specific issues

11a □Logical, articulate, and sensible people

11b □Sensitive, emotional, unusual, and even unique people

12a □Starting meetings when everyone has arrived and is comfortably settled

12b □Starting meetings on time

13a □Using methods already tested and effective in performing tasks

13b □Considering creating a new method to perform the tasks

14a □Helping others to use their feelings

14b □Helping people to make logical decisions and be sensible

15a □Imagining possibilities and alternative fantasies, even if they do not work

15b □Dealing with realities, based on the facts

16a □Being free to do things on the spur of the moment

16b □Knowing in advance what is expected of myself

According to the obtained score, people discover which is the predominant hemisphere of their brains and the respective degree to which they utilize their creativity. Thus, if a person uses the score predominantly the left hemisphere, which logically and rationally addresses the problems it faces, the creative vision is rarely applied sensibly (Right hemisphere from zero to 19; Left hemisphere from 80 to 61). If a person uses the score left hemisphere slightly, this suggests a predominance of the rational approach. Their creativity is present, but locked (Right hemisphere from 20 to 34; Left hemisphere from 45 to 36). If a person’s brain balances its two hemispheres, the score means then it looks for both logical and creative alternatives to a unique problem (Right hemisphere from 35 to 45; Left hemisphere from 80 to 61). If the score means it makes slight use of the right hemisphere, then the brain presents a creative approach presenting intuition and sensitivity characteristics. Logic, concepts, and rationality is in the background (Right hemisphere from 46 to 60; Left hemisphere from 34 to 20). If a person mainly uses the right hemisphere of their brain as a score, then, it shows that the predominant form creates original ideas. The rationality of creative decisions (Right hemisphere from 61 to 80; Left hemisphere from 19 to zero).

The second questionnaire is in two parts, inserted in a test battery, and pretending measure six conditions. The first’s call as α-test, measure and detect creativity on people, organizations, and performance 7: creative potential, creativity practice, and organizational perception support. The second’s call as β-test, measure and detect creativity in the subject performance, only 8: creativity support, characteristics of work, and blocks to creativity. Both tests constitute a set of statements falling on an agreement scale with five levels: one = completely disagree; two = disagree; three = neither agree nor disagree; four = agree; five = completely agree. In each proposed statement, the subject assigns only one grade in the scale. For detecting the creativity of a subject and their organization, the following statements are used:

For detecting creativity in the subject’s performance, the following statements are used:

According to results of the highest number of responses in columns four and five (agree and completely agree) the score’s percentage will indicate the creative capacity present in various guises. Thus, if the test indicates a high proportion of creative potential we have more creative potential in reality. The same applies to practiced creativity, perceived organizational support, creativity support, and good work characteristics. If the test indicates a high proportion of blocks to creativity, then we have more blocks to creativity in reality.

The third questionnaire, which detects entrepreneurial values and mindsets, is a survey composed by several authors and is divided into two parts: the first concerns skills and entrepreneurial values, the second section is designed to collect socio-demographic variables as follows:

Locus of Control: This construct was developed by Rotter  9 and concerns the ways in which people interpret events according to the polarity inside/outside. When the locus is internal, the person is deemed responsible for events, through their commitment and personal skills. Conversely, if the locus is external events are attributed to external causes, such as luck and favourable or unfavourable circumstances. Begley and Boyd  10 have noted that the ultimate combination of this construct is especially typical in individuals with entrepreneurial inclinations, which have a general tendency to attribute the events to internal factors. For this reason, it was chosen to use in research (mentioned later in this chapter) the scale used by these authors, which requires subjects to indicate their level of agreement on ten statements, according to a Likert scale from zero to five. An example is “what I get in my life will be related to the commitment that I put in”.

Risk Taking: This construct is believed to be related to personality traits that drive people who possess it to a fairly high degree to seek risky situations and to reject low risk situations 11. In contrast to the conventional wisdom, however, entrepreneurs are not “reckless gamblers”, because they are able to calibrate the level of risk that combines potential rewards with personal ability to manage uncertainty 12. This scale is divided into two parts: the first requires subjects to indicate whether they feel able to take the actions described, while the second prompts them to specify the degree of confidence which they would feel in undertaking that action, on a scale ranging from one to 10.

Engagement: This is understood as a pervasive and positive work-related state of mind characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption 13. The scale consists of nine items that measure the degree of agreement and disagreement of the participants by means of a series of statements related to the activities carried out by people who have a personality characterized by high engagement, through a Likert scale ranging from zero to six. One example is: “In my work, I feel full of energy.”

Employability: Studies on self-employability arise mainly in relation to changes in the labour market and in the light of the gradual modification of contracts and the fragmentation of careers. Kluytmans & Ott  14 identify the skills that characterize a worker as employable: ability of know-how (problem solving in situations of sudden change); availability to travel; and knowledge of the labour market (how to find work and to improve the work already secured). The reference scale  15 consists of five items which measure the degree of agreement, or disagreement of the participants, with a series of statements indicating the subject’s employability, through a Likert scale that ranges from one to five. One example is: “what is the probability of finding an acceptable job outside of your company?”.

Pro-activity: This is the “ability to anticipate future problems, needs, changes.” A pro-active person is one who can operate without waiting for something to happen, and who takes the initiative to realize what is right and necessary. The pro-active approach improves the person’s performance, and promotes their ability to reach career goals 16, while also reducing the levels of uncertainty and anxiety 17. The survey scale consists of 13 items, which measure the degree of the subject’s agreement and disagreement with a series of statements, through a Likert scale, ranging from zero to six. One example is: “I think I am ready to put into play a bit of my current professional security to get something better.”

Self-efficacy: It is believed that individuals are prompted to develop an entrepreneurial career to the extent to which they believe they possess the necessary skills to operate in this environment  18, 19. The scale used deals specifically with the transition between more usual working patterns and the situations likely to be experienced by entrepreneurs 20. It consists of 10 items that measure the degree of the subject’s agreement and disagreement with a series of statements that usually refer to actions carried out by people with high self-efficacy traits, through a Likert scale ranging from zero to six. An example is: “I feel able to effectively manage this career transition.”

Values: The second referenced value is: “a concept that an individual has as a transitional purpose (instrumental vs. terminal), expressing interests (individualist vs. collectivist) connected to motivational domains, and evaluated on a continuum of importance as a guiding principle in their lives”.  21 On the basis of considerations about the existence of three universal needs of people (biological, social interaction, and the survival and well-being of the group), the author identifies ten motivational types of values that assume a common meaning in all groups and their cultures. They are organized on the following two bipolar dimensions:

Another questionnaire, which consists of a Creativity Observation Scale,  22 can be used to assess creativity attitudes according to which the observer chooses the level that corresponds to a frequency range which is organized as follows: before, few times, much, and almost always. The questions are:

The observer takes notes and observes the subject’s responses to a questionnaire with the following questions:

The observer provides a comparison between the responses of the scale and questionnaire, and gives results establishing the activities that can be developed, such as: