Innovation in Virtual Teams: The Critical Role of Anonymity across Divergent and Convergent Thinking Processes

Abstract

This experimental research investigates the creativity of anonymous video-based groups through a series of collaborative divergent and convergent thinking stages of innovation. A sample of 113 undergraduate students participated in small groups of three or four to complete a creative problem-solving task in either anonymous or identified conditions. The findings revealed that although anonymity did not positively impact the divergent thinking task of brainstorming, it significantly enhanced creativity in the convergent thinking process of collaborative idea refinement. Furthermore, the ideas in the refinement stage were higher in originality, elaboration, overall quality, and good quality compared with the generation and selection task. The participants' attentional focus was critical in creating high-quality ideas by mediating the path from collaborative ideation to refinement. The current study contributes to the creativity literature by highlighting the importance of anonymous collaborative idea refinement as the teams proceed through multiple stages of convergent and divergent thinking processes.