Rise above prejudice against personality: Association with personality and interactive collaboration in team creativity performance

Creative discussions and interactions represent the main work model in many organizations. Team collaboration usually turns out to be more creative than individual work because, for example, it is able to gather information from different fields. However, differences in personality among team members may trigger conflicts, affect collaboration efficiency, and potentially affect the team's creative outcomes. Therefore, it is essential to explore the relationship between team members' personalities and their interactions within the team in the context of creativity. Initially, this study confirmed significant correlations between the personality traits of team members and their collaborative behaviors at an individual level. Furthermore, it verified significant correlations between individual interactive behaviors and team creativity. The study noted that groups characterized by low agreeableness and high neuroticism traits were more likely to achieve heightened levels of creativity. To explore the reasons behind the association of these two traits with team creativity, the study conducted a quantitative analysis of team interaction behavior data. This revealed significant correlations between agreeableness and spontaneous behaviors, as well as neuroticism traits and contending behaviors. Qualitative analysis of teamwork unveiled that an increase in behaviors linked to these traits effectively enhanced the diversity and equilibrium of team interaction. Finally, qualitative analysis extracted interactive features of highly creative teamwork performances, such as more balanced durations of team member speaking times and relatively consistent interaction frequencies among members across various design stages. These findings establish a solid foundation for accommodating and supporting members with diverse personality traits within creative teams. They also indicate we can create a collaborative environment beneficial for team creativity by recruiting the right members or adjusting intra-team interactions. Moreover, these insights shed light on how design teams can improve their project management and creative performance.