The Impact of Top Performers in Creative Groups

Abstract

The role of top or “star” performers was examined in an electronic collaborative creativity task. Participants worked in dyads on a series of four idea generation tasks and then participated in two different groups of four on two new idea generation tasks. The composition of the pairs and groups were changed for each new task. The top performers from the paired sessions, in terms of number of ideas or novelty, enhanced the number of ideas generated by the other members in the group sessions. The greater the discrepancy in performance of the top performer and the other group members in terms of number of ideas, the greater the positive impact on the other group members. This research suggests that top performers or “star” team members can have a positive effect on the creative performance of other group members over and above other predictors. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for including high individual performers in groups.