The Preferences for Creativity Scale (PCS): Identifying the Underlying Constructs of Creative Concept Selection

Creativity is highly emphasized during the engineering design process, but prior research has shown that decision-making biases and individual attributes can affect perceptions and preferences for creativity. However, there is a lack of knowledge of how to measure creativity during concept selection, or about the factors that affect designers’ preferences for creative concepts in an engineering design context. As a first step in understanding what factors contribute to the promotion or filtering of creative concepts during concept selection, this study investigates the factors that can affect preferences for creativity through the development of a psychometric survey that assesses student designers’ preferences for creativity through Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The result of these analyses is the 23-item Preferences for Creativity Scale (PCS) that assesses an individual’s preference for creativity in engineering design on 4 major dimensions: (1) Team Centrality, (2) Risk Tolerance, (3) Creative Confidence/ Preference, and (4) Motivation. The results of these analyses provide a foundation for studying creativity in the design process and allow for future research that investigates the factors that influence creative concept selection in engineering design.