Creativity as one of the core competencies of studying knowledge workers

Abstract

The article discusses the importance of creativity as one of the core competencies of knowledge workers in universities functioning in the knowledge-based economy. In the theoretical part of this article the essence of knowledge management (KM) is characterized. In particular, definition, objectives and processes of knowledge management are described, as well as benefits from KM and barriers to KM are presented. The attention is also paid to the knowledge workers, their definition, characteristics as well as roles they perform in organizations in which they work. Further part of this article focuses mainly on results of the research on knowledge workers creativity and competences. The main objective of the study was to determine whether competences characteristic of knowledge workers are correlated with the level and the style of creativity. An additional objective was to make a comparative analysis between humanistic, technical and agricultural fields of study. The questionnaire survey conducted among working students was the main source of primary data used in the process of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The method of documents’ examination as well as descriptive, analog and heuristic methods were used in this article. On the basis of obtained data the level of creativity and creative style of creative workers were studied, as well as correlations between competences characteristic of knowledge workers, and both the style and the level of creativity were calculated. The Drawing Test of Creative Thinking by Urban and Jellen was used to measure the level of creativity among respondents, and the KAI questionnaire by Kirton was used to measure the style of creativity. The final part of the article includes conclusions resulting from the results of the research and theoretical considerations.