*J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex.* **<sup>2019</sup>**, *<sup>5</sup>*, 25 *J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex.* **2019**, *5*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 14 instructions will receive a better response in HEIs than in SMEs. This could reflect organizational

constraints in SME which is not present in HEIs.

**Figure 2.** Responses to a question asking whether participants have participated or received instruction on creative design and management. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

Figure 3 shows about a third of employees in SME organizations are interested to receive additional instruction and almost half of them are "Not sure". In contrast, 59% of HEI students replied they are interested, while about a third are "Not sure". The percentage of employees of SME not interested is more than twice that for students in HEIs. These observations suggest that additional

**Figure 3.** Responses to a question asking whether participants are interested to received additional instruction in creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages. **Figure 3.** Responses to a question asking whether participants are interested to received additional instruction in creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

#### *4.2. Creativity Performance in Teams and as an Individual 4.2. Creativity Performance in Teams and as an Individual*

One question in the survey focusses on the above aspect: One question in the survey focusses on the above aspect:

*4.1. Understanding and Practice of Creative Tools and Techniques* 

expressed as a percentage of the group.

Two questions in the survey attempt to shed light on the above aspect. Responses to the question are summarized below. Bar graphs compare types of responses and present the raw data and those

Figure 2 indicates a majority of employees of SME and students of HEI have not participated or received creative design and management. Results indicate 59% and 66% of Employee in SME and students in HEI, respectively, answered 'NO' to the question. In contrast, only 23% of employees in SME and 18% of students in HEI received some form of instruction. This suggests instructions in creative design and management are offered by HEI and SME for their students and employees,

*Qn A: Have you participated or received instruction on creative design and management?* 

respectively, even though a majority of them have not received any instruction.

*Qn B: Are you interested to receive additional instruction in creativity?* 

#### *Qn C: Does group work result in superior creative performance relative to individual work? Qn C: Does group work result in superior creative performance relative to individual work?*

Responses to the question are summarized in Figure 4. An overwhelming majority in both employees of SME and students of HEI groups agree that group work resulted in superior creative output. In contrast, about a quarter of respondents indicated individual work resulted in superior creative performance. This observation reinforces contributions of teamwork dynamics on creativity Responses to the question are summarized in Figure 4. An overwhelming majority in both employees of SME and students of HEI groups agree that group work resulted in superior creative output. In contrast, about a quarter of respondents indicated individual work resulted in superior creative performance. This observation reinforces contributions of teamwork dynamics on creativity output. In addition, curriculum in HEI can be tailored towards team-based learning especially in subjects with significant creative content. *J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex.* **2019**, *5*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 9 of 14 output. In addition, curriculum in HEI can be tailored towards team-based learning especially in subjects with significant creative content.

**Figure 4.** Responses to a question asking whether group work results in greater creative performance. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages. **Figure 4.** Responses to a question asking whether group work results in greater creative performance. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

#### *4.3. Perception Relating to Creativity 4.3. Perception Relating to Creativity*

The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

*Qn E: Which attribute do you most associate with creativity?* 

open-mindedness.

Two questions in the survey attempt to gather information on the above topic: Two questions in the survey attempt to gather information on the above topic:

#### *Qn D: Does competition lead to greater use of creative tools and approaches? Qn D: Does competition lead to greater use of creative tools and approaches?*

Figure 5 indicates a majority of employees of SMEs and students of HEIs agree that competition will spur adoption of creativity tools and approaches. An overwhelming majority of employees in SMEs (54%) and students in HEIs (78%) agree that competition facilitates creativity among individual and teams within the organizations. Notably, the greater percentage (78%) of Students in HEIs compared to employees in SMEs (54%) that subscribe to this sentiment underline a higher degree of openness to competition among the former group and, perhaps, reflect lack of competition or regulations that hinder competitive forces in Brunei's industry. Figure 5 indicates a majority of employees of SMEs and students of HEIs agree that competition will spur adoption of creativity tools and approaches. An overwhelming majority of employees in SMEs (54%) and students in HEIs (78%) agree that competition facilitates creativity among individual and teams within the organizations. Notably, the greater percentage (78%) of Students in HEIs compared to employees in SMEs (54%) that subscribe to this sentiment underline a higher degree of openness to competition among the former group and, perhaps, reflect lack of competition or regulations that hinder competitive forces in Brunei's industry.

**Figure 5.** Responses to a question asking whether competition leads to greater adoption of creativity.

Survey results indicate open mindedness is widely perceived to be associated with creativity as shown in Figure 6. 'Unconventionality' was the least associated with creativity among employees in SME with 10% while among students in HEIs, 'Novelty' was the attribute least associated with 7%. However, a majority in both groups selected 'Open-mindedness' as the attribute associated with creativity. Among employees in SMEs and students in HEIs, 36% and 40%, respectively, selected *4.3. Perception Relating to Creativity* 

subjects with significant creative content.

The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

output. In addition, curriculum in HEI can be tailored towards team-based learning especially in

**Figure 4.** Responses to a question asking whether group work results in greater creative performance.

Figure 5 indicates a majority of employees of SMEs and students of HEIs agree that competition will spur adoption of creativity tools and approaches. An overwhelming majority of employees in SMEs (54%) and students in HEIs (78%) agree that competition facilitates creativity among individual and teams within the organizations. Notably, the greater percentage (78%) of Students in HEIs compared to employees in SMEs (54%) that subscribe to this sentiment underline a higher degree of

Two questions in the survey attempt to gather information on the above topic:

*Qn D: Does competition lead to greater use of creative tools and approaches?* 

regulations that hinder competitive forces in Brunei's industry.

**Figure 5.** Responses to a question asking whether competition leads to greater adoption of creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages. **Figure 5.** Responses to a question asking whether competition leads to greater adoption of creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

Survey results indicate open mindedness is widely perceived to be associated with creativity as shown in Figure 6. 'Unconventionality' was the least associated with creativity among employees in SME with 10% while among students in HEIs, 'Novelty' was the attribute least associated with 7%. However, a majority in both groups selected 'Open-mindedness' as the attribute associated with creativity. Among employees in SMEs and students in HEIs, 36% and 40%, respectively, selected open-mindedness. Survey results indicate open mindedness is widely perceived to be associated with creativity as shown in Figure 6. 'Unconventionality' was the least associated with creativity among employees in SME with 10% while among students in HEIs, 'Novelty' was the attribute least associated with 7%. However, a majority in both groups selected 'Open-mindedness' as the attribute associated with creativity. Among employees in SMEs and students in HEIs, 36% and 40%, respectively, selected open-mindedness.

*J. Open Innov. Technol. Mark. Complex.* **2019**, *5*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 14

*Qn E: Which attribute do you most associate with creativity? Qn E: Which attribute do you most associate with creativity?*

**Figure 6.** Responses to questions asking attribute most associated with creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages. **Figure 6.** Responses to questions asking attribute most associated with creativity. The numbers in parenthesis are percentages.

#### **5. Statistical Analysis and Discussion 5. Statistical Analysis and Discussion**

*B: Are you interested to receive additional* 

*D: Does competition lead to greater use of* 

among employees of SMEs.

*C: Does group work result in superior creative* 

*E: Which attribute do you most associate with* 

Statistical analysis was performed on results presented in Section 4. Results of the Pearson chisquare ሺଶሻ test and Cramer's V test for statistical strength are presented in Table 4. The degree of freedom (Df) is defined as the number of choices of a variable less 1. For Qns A–D, there are three choices namely "Yes", "No" and "Not sure"; hence Df is 2 for these questions. The null (ܪଵ) and alternative (ܪଶ) hypotheses are: Statistical analysis was performed on results presented in Section 4. Results of the Pearson chi-square χ 2 test and Cramer's V test for statistical strength are presented in Table 4. The degree of freedom (Df) is defined as the number of choices of a variable less 1. For Qns A–D, there are three choices namely "Yes", "No" and "Not sure"; hence Df is 2 for these questions. The null (*H*1) and alternative (*H*2) hypotheses are:

#### **H1:** *Responses from employees in SME are the same as those of students in HEI.*

#### *H***1:** *Responses from employees in SME are the same as those of students in HEI.* **H2:** *Responses from employees in SME are di*ff*erent as those of students in HEI.*

in SMEs and students in HEIs. Null hypotheses are nullified if

suggests weak correlation between responses of groups.

supported, as shown in Table 4. Similarly, for Questions B, D, and E, with

*H***2:** *Responses from employees in SME are different as those of students in HEI.* **Table 4.** Statistics of Pearson's chi-squared test and Cramer's V test. **Question Df**  *p***-Value Supported Hypothesis** ળ *A: Have you participated or received instruction on creative design and management?* 2 0.480 0.597 ܪଵ 0.078 Pearson's chi-square χ 2 test is used to determine similarity between responses of employees in SMEs and students in HEIs. Null hypotheses are nullified if *p* − value ≤ 0.05. The p-values for Questions A and C are greater than 0.05 hence the null hypotheses are not nullifable and *H*<sup>1</sup> is supported, as shown in Table 4. Similarly, for Questions B, D, and E, with *p* − values ≤ 0.05, *H*<sup>1</sup> are nullifiable and *H*<sup>2</sup> is supported. Cramer's V statistics for all questions are less than 0.3 which suggests weak correlation between responses of groups.

Pearson's chi-square ሺଶሻ test is used to determine similarity between responses of employees

Questions A and C are greater than 0.05 hence the null hypotheses are not nullifable and ܪଵ is

nullifiable and ܪଶ is supported. Cramer's V statistics for all questions are less than 0.3 which

From Pearson's chi-square analysis of response to Question A, it can be inferred that employees of SMEs and students in HEIs have similar experience in that a majority of them have not received instruction in creativity. Indeed, much more staff and students of SMEs and HEIs, respectively, do not receive instruction on creativity compared to those who do. To remedy this situation, SMEs and HEIs and can offer instruction in creativity to a wider group of employees and students in their organization. However, students and employees will respond to additional instructions in different ways as revealed by statistical analysis and responses to Question B. It indicates if additional instructions in creativity are offered, greater acceptance will be received among students of HEIs than

Statistical analysis of Questions A and B point to the need for human resource and skill development statutory bodies such as the Darussalam Enterprise (DARE) and for educational entities

p



p

*instruction in creativity?* 2 5.528 0.002 ܪଶ 0.266

*performance relative to individual work?* 2 0.808 0.346 ܪଵ 0.102


**Table 4.** Statistics of Pearson's chi-squared test and Cramer's V test.

From Pearson's chi-square analysis of response to Question A, it can be inferred that employees of SMEs and students in HEIs have similar experience in that a majority of them have not received instruction in creativity. Indeed, much more staff and students of SMEs and HEIs, respectively, do not receive instruction on creativity compared to those who do. To remedy this situation, SMEs and HEIs and can offer instruction in creativity to a wider group of employees and students in their organization. However, students and employees will respond to additional instructions in different ways as revealed by statistical analysis and responses to Question B. It indicates if additional instructions in creativity are offered, greater acceptance will be received among students of HEIs than among employees of SMEs.

Statistical analysis of Questions A and B point to the need for human resource and skill development statutory bodies such as the Darussalam Enterprise (DARE) and for educational entities in Brunei Darussalam to review their programs and curricula to ensure instructions on creativity are sufficient. A greater impact can be expected if creativity is taught at HEI as students are more interested in attending such courses. Indeed, a university that implemented creativity courses reported a total of 260 students had taken such course within four semesters [18]. Re-invention among SMEs through initiatives to enlighten businesses on the use and application of creative design in product development is also suggested. However, since results of Question B indicate a lack of interest among employees of SMEs to attend creativity courses, regulations or incentives may be needed to compel or attract such employees to attend such courses such as through a skill-upgrading programs. As discussed in Section 2.3, even individuals who have little prior knowledge of creative techniques can be motivated to develop novel initiatives after attending introductory creative courses [18]. This dovetails with prior research that concludes creativity is a trait that can be learned and acquired [1,23]. The root cause for lack of interest among SMEs deserves further study. It is possible that a strict organizational culture, influenced by a structured societal framework, inhibits an open environment where employees can request to attend courses as indicated by prior works discussed in Section 2.5 [28,29].

Employees of SMEs and students in HEIs agree that group work results in higher creative output, as shown by analysis of Question C. Additionally, the Cramer's V statistics Υ = 0.266 is among the highest although still weak for a correlation parameter. This is important especially for HEIs which should design learning activities using greater team-based approaches especially in modules with significant creativity content. As discussed in Section 2.4, the central idea is creativity develops from the *process*. For group work, the process is facilitated through close interactions, i.e., interactions with other group members. However, individuals have to interact with his or her environment which may be prolonged and so are hindered. Hence, analysis of results of Question C reinforces findings in the literature [10,23–25]. This outcome is also significant as it indicates that the practice and learning of creativity is enhanced by team dynamics. Hence, HEIs should design curriculum such that team-based approaches are used in activities, especially those with creative content.

A majority of employees of SMEs and students in HEIs agree that competition will spur greater adoption of creative tools and approaches, as shown by responses to Question D shown in Figure 5. However, Pearson's chi-square χ 2 test show statistical difference between responses of these two

groups with a *<sup>p</sup>*-value of 2.1 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup>−<sup>5</sup> as shown in Table 4. An analysis of the data show that the greatest contribution to the χ 2 -value is the large difference in the proportion of those who chose "No"; 26% of SME employees and only 7% among HEI students. However, the Cramer's V statistics Υ = 0.278 is the largest among all the questions on account of a majority in both groups choosing "Yes"; 54% of SME employees and only 78% among HEI students. Competition can be expected to stimulate improvisation necessary for innovation. It has been argued competition can have a dome-shape effect on creativity, which means it has the capacity to enact self-reliance necessary to emancipate originality and cutting-edge innovation both in industries and training institutions, but the trend of competition may also get to the extent where people will be afraid to invest both talent and capital, stifling creativity [38]. Competition among co-workers has been observed to diminish creativity while healthy competition between groups tends to maximize potential of groups. An economy largely dominated by cultural tastes may not respond well to competition and further study exploring effect of culture on competition in Brunei is recommended.

Open-mindedness received the highest number of votes among employees of SMEs (36%) and students in HEIs (40%) as the attribute most associated with creativity as shown in Figure 6. However, among the other four attributes, namely "Attitude", "Insightfulnes", "Novelty", and "Unconventionality", there were differences between responses of employees and students which resulted in large χ <sup>2</sup> value and a low *p*-value of 0.037, which is below the significance level. This result is significant as prior key literature findings show that ability to suspend judgment on ideas of others is an important trait of high performance teams [10]; as discussed in Section 2.4. The conceptual foundations of open mindedness were developed by Hare [39]. Open mindedness is defined as being genuinely concerned to avoid bias, wishful thinking, and other factors that tend or will compromise serious examination of evidence [40]; it also means "being ready to view one's conclusions, no matter how strongly supported, as completely revisable in light of further evidence given the fallible nature of knowledge claims" [41]. These contrast to making up one's mind in advance and that contrary views must be mistaken and, therefore, unacceptable. Open mindedness is a measure of tolerance, non-judgmental, and unbiased views. Workers can creatively perform significantly better if they understand that their views or ideas can be revised. This is especially so in light of changing or ambiguous client requirements or budget considerations which are often cited as factors that discourage a creative team as listed in Table 3. This will give creative teams or individuals confidence needed to delve in and formulate extraordinary concepts during product development cycle. Open minded teams or individuals will seek and tap from unlimited alternatives. However, knowing alternatives depends on exposure to prior instructions in creative design and management. Hence, lack of instructions in HEIs and SMEs will discourage creative thinking. Hence, diversification programs integral to Wawasan 2035 can be better implemented in an open-minded society.

Assessing creativity is a highly intricate challenge that is virtually impossible to be accomplished using a handful of parameters, especially when attempted at the national level. An economy largely dominated by cultural tastes may not respond well to competition and further study exploring effect of culture on competition in Brunei is recommended [42,43]. In this context, Brunei offers a unique opportunity to study effect and interplay between culture, competition and creative processes in SMEs due to the large number of SMEs in the country. Additionally, Brunei's culture combines Malay and Islamic tenets with strong emphasis on social order and has a culturally centralized society similar to those of other communities in East Asia, such as Chinese and Japanese societies. Culturally de-centralized countries have been reported to be more innovative than culturally centralized countries [44].

#### **6. Conclusions**

This research assessed creative processes among employees in small and medium enterprises (SME) and students of higher education institutions (HEI) in Brunei Darussalam through interviews with key personnel and surveys. Ambiguity of customer needs or requirement was a factor most often cited to

impede creativity in teams in SME organizations. Statistical analysis of responses from 39 students from HEIs and 68 employees of SMEs was carried out using Pearson's chi-square test for goodness of fit and Cramer's V test for strength test. Such analysis reveals that a majority of respondents in both groups have not received any instruction in creativity. In addition, more students are interested in receiving instruction in creativity than do employees. A majority (>60%) of respondents in both groups agree that group work results in higher creative performance. Similarly, a majority (>50%) of respondents in both groups agree competition will lead to greater adoption of creative tools and approaches. However, a significantly larger percentage (26%) of employees disagree relative to the students (7%). Additionally, there is a consensus among students and employees that open-mindedness is most associated with creativity although there is significant difference between the number of respondents for other attributes among employees and students. The findings were discussed the light of policy and operational level recommendations for SMEs and HEIs in Brunei Darussalam.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization: E.M.Y. and S.U.O.; methodology: E.M.Y., S.U.O., and A.S.Z.; formal analysis: S.U.O., F.I., and A.S.Z.; writing—original draft preparation: S.U.O., F.I., and A.S.Z.; writing—review and editing: S.U.O., F.I., and A.S.Z.; supervision: E.M.Y.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** F.I. acknowledge support received during his research leave at Glasgow Caledonian University during which time part of the writing up was completed.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


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