Abstract:

Confluence approach has become the current trend in creativity research, thus, this study applied the perspective of Csikszentmihalyi’s creativity system to the business innovation in order to explore the factors that influence business innovation.
In 2008~2009, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan hosted an Entrepreneurship Competition”. The award-winning entrepreneurship groups from technical colleges were the subjects of this research. Nine entrepreneurship groups, with a total of 23 subjects, were interviewed through focus group. The semi-structured interview outlines included: 1) entrepreneurship backgrounds and motivations; 2) personality traits of the entrepreneurs; 3) discovery and confirmation of business opportunities; 4) market survey and analysis; 5) product features; 6) professional knowledge and learning; 7) school and family environments; 8) group composition and operations; 9) company management and development; and 10) writing and briefing of entrepreneurship proposal. The intra-coder reliability for data analysis was 94.

The results show that the factors affecting business innovation reveal four levels. The first level contains 3 categories, namely individual, environmental, and contextual aspects. The second level contains 10 factors, including personality, motivation, ability, knowledge, thinking, family, school, clubs, norms, and gatekeepers, which are further divided into 37 categories and 169 indicators. The results support the perspective of Csikszentmihalyi’s creativity system. We also find that the Innovation Incubator Center plays an important consulting role, by helping new companies to quickly gain business experiences and establish business models.

The findings suggest that a successful entrepreneurship should have: 1) professional knowledge and technology; 2) motivation; 3) experience and learning; 4) entrepreneurship; 5) social support; 6) innovative thinking; 7) personal abilities; 8) team work; 9) talent for operating management; and 10) market orientation. School curriculum of entrepreneurship management should emphasize practical courses, such as compilation of financial statements, commercial laws, company management, and innovative thinking techniques.

Keywords:

Creativity, creativity system, entrepreneurship, business innovation.