hospitality industry Measuring practitioners’ creativity in the Taiwanese tourismand Thinking Skills and Creativity

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Thinking Skills and Creativity

jo u r n al hom e p ag e : htt p : / / w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / t s c

Measuring practitioners’ creativity in the Taiwanese tourism and hospitality industry

Jeou-Shyan Horng

^a

, Chang-Yen Tsai

^b

, Yu-Chun Chung

^c,∗

aPresident&Professor,DepartmentofFoodandBeverageManagement,JinwenUniversityofScienceandTechnology,No.99,Anzhong Rd.,XindianDist.,NewTaipeiCity23154,Taiwan

bAssociateProfessor,DepartmentofHospitalityManagement,MingDaoUniversity,369Wen-HuaRd.,Pettow,ChangHua52345,Taiwan

cDepartmentofManagementSciences,TamkangUniversity,No.151,YingzhuanRd.,TamsuiDist.,NewTaipeiCity25137,Taiwan

a rt i c l e i n f o

Articlehistory:

Received2April2015 Receivedinrevisedform 16September2015 Accepted2January2016 Availableonline6January2016

Keywords:

Creativity Hospitality Practitioner Taiwan Tourism

a b s t ra c t

Thisstudydrawsontourismandhospitalityliteraturetodevelopanewcreativityscale thathighlightstheimportanceofcreativityinthetourismandhospitalityindustry.Itis importantforpractitionerstodevelopgreatercreativitysoastosolveproblemsandobtain competitiveadvantages.However,fewstudieshavecomprehensivelyexaminedtheimpact ofcreativityonchangesinthetourismandhospitalityindustry,andthereisalackofempir- icalresearchonthecriticalattributesofcreativityfromtheperspectiveoftourismand hospitalitypractitioners.Thisstudyseekstofillthisgapbyconstructingandtestinganew theoreticalmodelinthetourismandhospitalitysector.Thescale’sreliabilityandvalidity areexaminedthroughexploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA)andconfirmatoryfactoranalysis (CFA),usingsamplescollectedfrom854tourismandhospitalitypractitioners(579col- legestudentsmajoringintourismandhospitalityand275practitionersinthetourismand hospitalityindustry).Theresultsidentifyfivecriticalattributesofcreativity:process,cre- ativity,culture,proactivepersonality,andsatisfaction.Theimplicationsfortheoreticaland practicalapplicationsarealsodiscussed.

©2016ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

1. Introduction

Employeecreativitycanhelporganizationsobtaincompetitiveadvantagesfororganizationalinnovation,survival,and long-termsuccess(Woodman,Sawyer,&Griffin,1993;Scott&Bruce,1994;Shalley,1995;Amabile,Conti,Coon,Lazenhy,&

Herron,1996;Oldham&Cummings,1996;Amabile,1997;Ford&Gioia,2000;George&Zhou,2001;Runco,2004;George, 2007).Employeecreativityreferstothecreationofvaluableandusefulnewproducts,services,ideas,procedures,orprocesses thatcansolveproblemsthroughtheactionsofindividualswhoworktogetherinacomplexsocialsystem(Woodmanetal., 1993).Researchoncreativityhasconcentratedonexaminingtheantecedentsofemployeecreativityinanorganizational context,suchascreativepersonalities(Batey,Chamorro-Premuzic,&Furnham,2009;Hughes,Furnham,&Batey,2013;

Oldham&Cummings,1996;Zhou,2003),organizationalcontextsandjobcharacteristics(Amabileetal.,1996),jobcreativity requirements(Shalley,Gilson,&Blum,2000),andleadership(Shin&Zhou,2003).Besides,thecreativityaspectsofthe4P modelof“person”,“process”,“place”,and“product”havebeenraisedinrecentstudies(Hansen,Monllor,&McMurchie,2012;

Peng,Lin,&Baum,2013).Tourismandhospitalityresearchershavenotdevelopedanintegratedtheoreticalframeworkbased

∗ Correspondingauthor.

E-mailaddresses:t10004@ntnu.edu.tw(J.-S.Horng),tyen1210@mdu.edu.tw(C.-Y.Tsai),dolly0105@hotmail.com(Y.-C.Chung).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2016.01.001 1871-1871/©2016ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

onthe4Pmodelthatexplainstheunique,independenteffectsoftourismandhospitalityorganizations’employeestohelp organizationsmorefullyleveragetheinfluenceofthe4Pmodeloncreativity.

Aproactivepersonalityreferstoapersonwithapositiveattitudewhodisplaystheinitiativetochangeproceduresin termsofjobperformanceandorganizationalenvironmentandwhothustendstobecreative(Seibert,Kraimer,&Crant, 2001).Karpova,Marcketti,andKamm(2013)alsofoundmajorcreativetraitswithinthefashionindustrywererisktaking, openminded,anddetermined.Despitethepotentialimportanceforcreativity(Amabileetal.,1996;George&Zhou,2001;

Woodmanetal.,1993),onlyafewstudieshaveexaminedhowproactivepersonalitieshavefosteredcreativity(Heinzen, 1999;Kim,Hon,&Crant,2009;Kim,Hon,&Lee,2010).Forinstance,onestudythathasinvestigatedthelinkagebetween proactivepersonalitiesandcreativebehavioursisthatofSeibertetal.(2001),whofoundthataproactivepersonalityis positivelyassociatedwithanindividual’sinnovationbehaviours.

Manyresearchershavedescribedanorganization’scultureasapredictivefactorofitssuccess(Choi,Seo,Scott,&Martin, 2010).Delobbe,HaccounandVandenberghe(2000)haverecentlymadereferencetotheunderstandingoforganizational cultureasoneofthemostpowerfultheoreticaltoolsforanorganization’sdevelopment.Inthehospitalityindustry,Wong andPang(2003)foundtraininganddevelopment,organizationalculture,opencommunicationandstaffrecognitiontobe theprimarymotivatorsofthemanagementstaff’screativity.Ontheotherhand,creativityisoneofthemostimportant factorsformotivatingorganizationaldynamismandsurvival.Fleith(2000)hasarguedthatcreativitymaynotmerelyoccur inanindividual’sthoughts,asasuitableatmospherebegetsandsupportscreativethoughts.

Lubart(2001)definesthecreativeprocessasthesequenceofthoughtsandactionsthatleadstotrulycreativeproduction;

therefore,priorknowledgeandtheproductionprocessmightbetakentogetherasthecreativeprocess,andtheactualproduct istakenasacreativeperformance,whichmakesuseofandbuildsupontheearlierprocesses.However,itisalsopossibleto seetheprocessaspriororpotentialknowledgeorcapacityandtheperformanceasacombinationoftheproductionprocess, whichbuildsuponearliermentalprocesses,andthefinalproduct(Alfonso-Benlliure,Meléndez,&García-Ballesteros,2013;

Lassig,2013;Lubart,2001).Althoughitishardtoknowtowhatextentthecreativeprocessvariesacrossthehospitality field,thatis,dependingonthenatureofthetask(Nemiro,1997;Lubart,2001),creativityresearchersingeneralhavelong beenawareoftheimportanceofboththenatureofthefinalproductandtheprocessofmakingsaidproduct.Aninteresting (ifincidental)aspectofthisproject’sfindingsisthattheytendtochallengethecommon(Western)stereotypethatAsians (particularlytheChinese)arenothighlycreative(Riquelme,2002);thehospitalityfieldisonearea(managementmightbe another)inwhichEastAsianscanclearlymanifesttheircreativetalents.

Creativitytheoryadvocatescreative-processengagement,which is definedas employeeinvolvement in creativity- relevantmethodsorprocessesofcreativityrequirementsofjobsandrelatedcreativeperformance(Zhang&Bartol,2010).

Creative-processengagementisakeycreativityrequirementforindividualsincreativetheoryandincludesattitudes,work- place,satisfaction,andorganizationalculture(Shalleyetal.,2000).Thisnarrowdefinitionforcreativityraisesthequestion ofhowcreative-processengagementinterfaceswiththebroaderresponsibilitiesandaccountabilitiesthattendtobeapart ofcareerswithstrongcreativitycomponents(Gilson&Shalley,2004).Thisvoidisparticularlysignificantbecausecreative- processengagementtendstobecognitivelydemandingforemployees,andsuchactivitiesareultimatelyconnectedto organizationalcompetitiveadvantage(Zhang&Bartol,2010).

Althoughthelinkbetweencreativityandorganizationalsuccesshasbeendocumentedinthetourismandhospitality industry(e.g.,Wong&Pang,2003),littleresearchhasbeenconductedtounderstandcreativityanditsdimensionsasan antecedentforjoboroccupationalsatisfaction.RobinsonandBeesley(2010)havefoundthatthereisaclearrelationship betweencreativityandbothorganizationalandoccupationalsatisfaction.Hence,thepurposeofthisstudyistoreviewand integratetheresultsofpreviousliterature.Becausemostoftheearlierstudieshaveaddressedthedeterminantsofcreativity exhibitedbyindividualemployees,thiswillbetheemphasisofourreview.Weprovideasynthesisbasedonthe4Pmodel ofcreativityusingtourismandhospitalityorganizationstobuildthenewresearchframework.Insum,thisstudyaimstofill thisvoidbyusingcreativitytheoriesandRhodes’(1961)4Ptheoryasanoverarchingtheoryanddevelopthecreativityscale fortourismandhospitalitybusinesspractitioners.Throughaliteraturereviewandstatisticalanalyses,thisstudyproposes indicatorstomeasurethecreativityoftourismandhospitalitybusinesspractitioners,anditservesasatoolfortraininga professionalworkforceinthetourismandhospitalityindustry.Wealsosuggestanumberofnewdirectionsforcreativity research.

2. Literaturereview

Creativityreferstothegenerationofnovelandusefulideas(Amabile,1997;Oldham&Cummings,1996).Researchers havedevotedmuchattentiontoexaminingtheimportantattributesandantecedentsofcreativity(Amabile,1997;Ford

&Gioia,2000;George&Zhou,2001;Pearce,2004).Inthedecision-makingprocess,creativity isofcrucialimportance (O’Halloran&O’Halloran,2001).Inthepast,manyresearchershavedefinedcreativityintermsofthedevelopmentofnew ideasaboutproducts,practices,servicesorprocedures—ideasthatarepotentiallyusefultotheorganizationintheshortor longterm(e.g.,Amabile,1996).Whilethetraditional“4Ps”definitionofcreativityemphasizestheperspectivesofperson, place,processandproduct(Rhodes,1961),researchershaverecentlybeguntointerpretcreativityinmoreholistic,dynamic andmultidimensionalterms.Thereisalsoagreaterawarenessthatmajorbreakthroughstendtobethecumulativeeffect ofincrementalproceduraladaptations.

Creativeperformance,definedhereasboththeactualproductionprocessandthefinalproductitself,shouldbeunderstood astheoutcomeofacomplexinterchangebetweenindividualsandtheircontext(Scott&Bruce,1994).Guastello,Shissler, DriscollandHyde(1998)foundthatthepotentialforcreativeperformancewasgreatestin“peoplewhoengagedinawide repertoireofcognitivestyles”.Mostpreviousstudieshavemeasuredobservable(thatis,performed)creativityusingratings providedbyotherindividuals,andsomelaboratorystudieshaveusedtheconsensualassessmenttechnique(CAT)(Amabile, 1996),inwhichtwoormoreexpertjudgesratetheoverallcreativityofeachsolutionorproductthataresearchparticipant hasgenerated.Suchanapproachallowsforanevaluationofthereliabilityofinter-judgecreativityratings;ifthereisan acceptablelevelofreliability,acreativityscoreiscomputedastheaverageofthecreativityratingsforeachparticipantacross thegeneratedsolutionsand/orcreativeproducts(Shalley&Perry-Smith,2001).

Accordingtothecomponentialtheory,creativityisincludedinmultipledimensionsandconcentratedonindividualand contextualfactorsthatinfluencecreativeperformance(Amabile,1996;Gilson&Shalley,2004;Shalley,Zhou,&Oldham, 2004).Recently,the4Pmodelhascommonlymadeexplicitacknowledgmentofcontextualfactorsforcreativity(Tanggaard, 2013).A reviewofthecreativityliteraturerelevanttothe4Pmodelrevealsthattheexact numberofmain attributes consideredtobeinvolvedinthecreativemodelhasdifferedsomewhatinvariousconceptualizations.However,creative theoristsofthe4Pmodelgenerallyincludefouraspects:person,process,place,andproduct(Greene,2013;Tanggaard, 2013).

Anumberofstudieshaveconsideredhowbroadpersonalityfactorsrelatetopsychometricandtask-basedcreativity(e.g., Bateyetal.,2009;Hughesetal.,2013).Aproactivepersonalityreferstoanindividualwithadispositiontowardsengagingin activeroleorientation,suchasinitiatingchangeandinfluencinghisorherenvironment(Bateman&Crant,1993).Proactive peopleinitiatechanges,takeaction,andpersevereuntilmeaningfulchangeoccursthroughtheachievementoftheirgoals, asopposedtopassivepeople,whojustadapttotheirundesirablecircumstances(Crant,2000).Forexample,Batemanand Crant(1993)notedthatproactivepeopleactivelyworkedtomanipulatetheirenvironmentandsoughtoutnewinformation andpracticestoimprovetheirperformance.Inasimilarvein,Seibertetal.(2001)statedthatproactivepeopleattempted topromotetheircareerprospectsratherthanpassivelyreactingtothejobsituationasitwaspresented.Comparedwith passiveindividuals,proactivepeoplewerealsomorelikelytosuggestnewwaysofperformingtaskstoachievetheirgoals andtogeneratenewideastoimproveperformance.Inaddition,theyweremorelikelytoidentifyopportunitiesandacton thembyexceedingnormaljobexpectations(VanDyne&LePine,1998;Seibertetal.,2001).Asaresult,proactiveindividuals tendedtoactivelyengageinupdatingtheirknowledgeandskillsandidentifyingnewworkprocesses.Thedisplayofinitiative anddesiretosurpassnormaljobexpectations,usuallyexhibitedbyproactivepeople,appearedtohavepositiveeffectson creativity.

AlthoughmostoftheempiricalresearchonproactivepersonalitieshasbeenconductedintheUnitedStates(Bateman&

Crant,1993;VanDyne&LePine,1998;Seibertetal.,2001),thelogicbehindtheargumentabovemaynotbeculturallybound andthusshouldbecross-validatedinothercountries.Forinstance,Chan(2006)demonstratedinaSingaporeansamplethat aproactivepersonalitywaspositivelyassociatedwithattitudinalandbehaviourworkoutcomes,suchasjobsatisfaction, organizationalcommitment,andjobperformanceamongindividualswithhighlevelsofsituationaljudgmenteffectiveness.

Inaddition,Kimetal.(2009)foundthataproactivepersonalitywaspositivelyassociatedwithemployeecreativityamong ChineseemployeesinHongKong.

Alongwithdailyprogressinknowledge,technologyanddataflow,organizations’managerswillrequirehighereducation andskilldevelopmenttokeeppacewiththedevelopmentsinknowledgeandtechnologytoensurethattheirorganiza- tionsmaylinkandtackletheproblemsutilizingcollectiveknowledgeandthecontemplationofnewandcreativeideas (Mobarakeha,2011).Tothiseffect,managerswillneedpowersofobservationandmentalitytohelpthemidentifyand addresstheorganization’sinternalandexternalforces.Manyresearchershavedescribedanorganization’scultureasapre- dictivefactorofitssuccess(Choietal.,2010).Delobbeetal.(2000)haverecentlymadereferencetotheunderstanding oforganizationalcultureasoneofthemostpowerfultheoreticaltoolsforanorganization’sdevelopment.Inthehospi- talityindustry,WongandPang(2003)foundtraininganddevelopment,organizationalculture,opencommunicationand staffrecognitiontobetheprimarymotivatorsofthemanagementstaff’screativity.Ontheotherhand,creativityisoneof themostimportantfactorsformotivatingorganizationaldynamismandsurvival.Fleith(2000)hasarguedthatcreativity mightnotmerelyoccurinanindividual’sthoughts,asasuitableatmospherebegetsandsupportscreativethoughts.Cheng (2010)foundthatteachers’creativetensionsanddilemmasinaChinesecontextoriginatedfromproblemsonseverallevels, includingtheindividuallevel,thesystematiclevelandtheculturallevel.

Severalstudieshaveexploredtheroleofthecreativeprocessinstimulatingcreativeperformanceorproduction(e.g., Alfonso-Benlliureetal.,2013;Lassig,2013;Tierney&Farmer,2004).ParnesandNoller(1972)foundthatstudentswho completedasequenceofcreativitycoursessignificantlyoutperformedcomparablecontrolstudentsintermsoffluency, flexibilityandthecapacitytoreflectontheirownideas.Nemiro(1997)examinedactors’creativeprocesses,linkinggeneral preparation,rehearsalandperformanceactivitiestothestagesdescribedinAmabile’s(1996)model.Lubart(2001)argued thatcertainprocesssequencesand/orsub-processeswouldleadtoahighlycreativeproductandthatagreatnumberof otherpossiblesequencesand/orsub-processeswouldleadtolesscreative(orevennon-creative)products.

For acreativeresponse toemerge,an individualmustengageincreativeactivities,suchasproblemidentification, environmentalscanning,datagathering,unconsciousmental activity,solutiongenerationandevaluation,and solution implementation(Simon,1966;Shalley,1991).Thiscreativeprocessdeterminestheflexibilitywithwhichcognitivepath- waysareexplored,theattentiongiventoparticularaspectsofthetask,andtheextenttowhichaparticularpathwayis

Generate Sample of Items

- Specify domains of creativity for practitioners - Literature review

- Content validity examination

Data Collection (1) & Purification of Measures - Coefficient alpha

- Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) - Item reduction & construct validity

Data Collection (2) & Reanalysis of Measures - Coefficient alpha

- Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) - Assess the goodness of fit of model

Fig.1. Procedureofscaledevelopment.

followedinpursuitofasolution(Amabile,1996).Ifcognitiveprocessingisinterrupted,thencriticalinformationwillnot havebeenaccessedorusedinproblemsolving,whichresultsinanoutcomeoflowcreativity(Shalley,1995).

Itiswellestablishedthatcreativityisanessentialelementfororganizationalsuccess;creativityandinnovationare requiredfororganizationstoadaptandchange.Althoughthelinkbetweencreativityandorganizationalsuccesshasbeen documentedinthetourismandhospitalityindustry(e.g.,Wong&Pang,2003),littleresearchhasbeenconductedtounder- standcreativityand itsdimensionsasanantecedentforjoboroccupationalsatisfaction.Robinson andBeesley(2010) findthatthereisaclearrelationshipbetweencreativityandbothorganizationalandoccupationalsatisfaction.Thisstudy drawsuponimportantconceptsfromthepreviousstudiesandusesperson,place,process,andproduct(Rhodes,1961)asa foundationforthedevelopmentofcreativityindicatorsfortourismandhospitalitypractitioners.

3. Methodology

ThisstudyfollowstheguidelinesofBatemanandCrant(1993);CameronandQuinn(1999);Cameron,Quinn,andTromp (1999);Greenhaus,Parasuraman,andWormley(1990),HorngandHu(2009);Seibert,Crant,andKraimer(1999);Zhangand Bartol(2010),andZhouandGeorge(2001)todevelopacreativityscaleforproactivepersonality,culture,process,satisfaction, andcreativityamongtourismandhospitalityindustrypractitioners.Inadditiontoexaminingthecreativityscale’sreliability andvalidity,thisstudyadoptsmultiplestagesofitemanalysis(Sirakaya-turk,Ekinci,&Kaya,2008;Woosnam&Norman, 2010)toconstructthisscale.Stageonefocusedongeneratingandrefiningitems.Instagetwo,apilottestwasconducted.

Theresearchersthenmodifiedthescalebyconductinganexploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA)anddeletedanyinappropriate items.Aconstructvalidityanalysiswasalsoconducted.Stagethreeusedthedatacollectedfromthepilottestforanalysis.A confirmatoryfactoranalysis(CFA)wasperformedtocheckthemodel’soverallfit.TheresearchprocedureisshowninFig.1.

3.1. Itemdevelopment

Churchill(1979)suggestedthatthetopicofresearchmustbeclarified,withalltermsandcontentaccuratelydefined.This studyreviewsandanalysescreativityresearchbasedonperson,place,process,andproduct(Rhodes,1961).Afterathorough literaturereview,thisstudydividedcreativityintofiveconstructs:proactivepersonality,culture,process,satisfaction,and creativity.Thesefiveconstructswerefurtherwith53itemsintotal.Theitemsweremeasuredonaseven-pointLikertscaleas follows:1(stronglydisagree),2(disagree),3(somewhatdisagree),4(neutral),5(somewhatagree),6(agree)and7(strongly agree).

3.2. Datacollectionandanalysis

Toensurethatthescaleservedthepurposeofthisstudy,thescale’svaliditywasexaminedintwostages.Giventhat studentsmajoringintourismandhospitalityarethemostlikelytobecometourismpractitionersinthefuture,apilottest wasconductedamongcollegestudentswhostudytourismorhospitalitymanagement.Thedatawerecollectedfromfive

geographicallyrepresentativeuniversitiesinTaiwanthatofferbachelor’sdegreesinhospitalitymanagement.Theques- tionnairesweredistributedtoatotalof700studentsatthejuniorandseniorlevels.Thefirststageofdataanalysishelped researchersreviseeachitem’scontenttoimproveitsvalidity.AnEFAwasthenperformedtoexaminetheappropriateness ofeachconstructanditem.Theresponseratewas82.7%,withatotalof579validresponses.

Descriptivestatistics,extremegroupanalysisandhomogeneityanalysiswereusedtodeterminewhetherthedatawere atanacceptablelevel.Nomissingvalueswerefoundintheresponses,andthemeansofallitemswerequiteclosetothe intermediatevalues.ThevalueofCronbach’s˛wasabovetherecommendedvalueof0.7,andeachitem’shomogeneity washighlyconsistent,whichsuggestedthatall53itemsshouldberetained.Thescale’sfiveconstructswereexaminedfor internalconsistencyandreliability.TheresearchersconductedaKaiser-Meyer-Olkin(KMO)measurementandaBartlett’s testofsphericitytodeterminewhetherthesampledatawereappropriateforfactoranalysis.Theresultsshowedthatthe KMOindexwas0.962.Bartlett’stestofsphericitywassignificantatalevelof0.000,indicatingthatitwasappropriateto conductthefactoranalysisonthedata.

AnEFAwasconductedtoassesstheconstructvalidityandtoexaminethemeaningandstructureofthelatentvariables.

Aprincipal-axisfactoranalysiswasperformedwithfactorswhoseeigenvalueswereabove1.Theresultsoftheanalysis werepresentedinafactormatrixasshowninTable1.Afterthepilottest,itwasdeterminedthatthecreativityscaleshould havefiveconstructs.Eachconstructwasnamedaccordingtotheliteraturereview,asfollows:Process(Pr),Creativity(Cr), Culture(Cu),Proactivepersonality(Pp),andSatisfaction(Sa).Therewereatotalof32items.

Forthesecondstageofdatacollection,theresearchersconductedanationwidesamplingfrombusinessesinthetourism, hospitalityandcateringindustries.Throughconveniencesampling,atotalof338copiesofthecreativityscaleweredis- tributedtorestaurants,hotelsandothertourismpremises.Theresponseratewas81.36%,with275validresponsesretrieved.

ACFAwasthenemployedtoassessthevalidityofthescaleandtoexaminethemeaningandstructureofthelatentvariables.

TheCFAresultswereusedtomodifyandrefinethescale,thusenhancingthescale’sapplicability.

Next,followingtherecommendationsofKline(2005)andBagozziandYi(1988),theresearchersassessedthemodel’s overallgoodness-of-fit.Theresultsoftheassessmentshowedthatthe² valuewas1063.70,overthesignificancelevel, withitspvaluebelow0.000.BagozziandYi(1988)suggestedthatthesizeofthesampleshouldalsobeexamined,and thedesirableChi-square/dfvalueshouldnotexceed3.Inthiscase,theChi-square/dfwas2.34,withinthedesiredlevel.

Afterwards,theresearchersexaminedtheothergoodness-of-fitindices(GFIs).

Afterassessingtheoffendingestimate,theoverallmodelfitandthefitofthemodel’sinternalstructure,themodelis showntopotentiallyrequiremodificationtosurpassthestrictstandards.Therefore,themodificationindices(MIs)were takenasthemodificationreference.TheMIthresholdwassetat20.AfterconsideringtheMIvalue,theresearchersdecided toremoveitemPr7(“Ilookatthesamethingfromdifferentperspectives”),Cr7(“Iamnotafraidtotakerisks”),andPp5(“I canspotagoodopportunitylongbeforeotherscan”).Aftertherevision,thescaleconsistedof29observablevariableswith fivelatentvariables.TheresultsofthemodifiedmodelfitanalysesarepresentedinTable2,andtheysuggestthatthemodel exhibitedagoodoverallfit.

Overallgoodness-of-fitshowswhetherthemodelfitstheobserveddata.Thefitofamodel’sinternalstructureexamines thereliabilityofthemeasuringindicatorsandthelatentvariables,anditalsoassessesthesignificanceleveloftheestimated parameters.ThisstudyfollowedtherecommendationsofBagozziandYi(1988)andsetthethresholdforacceptableinternal consistencyasfollows:thecompositereliabilityoflatentvariablesmustbeabove0.60;theaveragevarianceextracted(AVE) oflatentvariablesmustbeabove0.50;andallestimatedparametersmustreachthesignificancelevel.

4. Results

Table2shows theresultsofthemodelfit measurement.Ofallofthefitindexes,neithertheGFInortheadjusted goodness-of-fitindex(AGFI)exceededthefitvalueof0.80,whichsuggestedthatthemodelrequiredfurthermodifica- tion.Theresearchersthenwentastepfurther,examiningthecompositereliabilityofeverylatentvariableandtheAVEto assessthemodel’sinternalconsistency.Theresultsshowedthatthecompositereliabilityofthefivelatentvariablesranged between0.86 and0.95;thus,allwereabovethe0.6threshold(Bagozzi&Yi,1988).TheAVE rangedbetween0.57and 0.71.Allvalueswereabovethestandardof0.50,suggestingthatthefiveobservablevariablescouldfullyreflecttheirlatent counterparts.

Theresultsofthefitofthemodel’sinternalstructureareshowninTable3.AsTable3shows,allparametersthatwent throughtheCFAwereabovethesignificancelevel.Tosumuptheanalyses,theCFAresultssuggestthatthemodelpresented inthisstudyhasexcellentinternalconsistencyandcanbeusedtointerprettheobserveddata.Theresearchersconducted aCFAtoverifywhetherthecorrelationbetweenthemeasuringvariablesandthefactorsretrievedfromtheEFAinthefirst stagewasconsistent.Table3alsoshowsthattheCFAt-valuesofthefiveconstructswereallabove3.29,andtheAVEof eachconstructrangedbetween0.59and0.71,exceedingthelevelof0.50recommendedbyFornellandLarcker(1981).In addition,thecompositereliabilitiesrangedbetween0.85and0.94,alsoexceedingthe0.60levelrecommendedbyFornell andLarcker(1981),whichindicatedthatthescaleexhibitedgoodinternalconsistency.

74J.-S.Horngetal./ThinkingSkillsandCreativity19(2016)269–278

Table1

Resultsofthemodifiedexploratoryfactoranalysis.

Contentoffactor/construct Factorloading Eigenvalue Totalvariance Interpretationvariance% Alpha

Factor1.Process 15.5 44.4 44.4 0.94

Iassessdifferentopinionsandselectthemostplausibleone. 0.92

Whenasoundideaisgenerated,Iwillimplementitafterthoroughevaluation. 0.83 Ilookforconnectionswithsolutionsusedinseemingdiverseareas. 0.76

Ifanideaisnotgoodenough,Iwillseekanewoneinstead. 0.76

Iconsultawidevarietyofinformation. 0.75

Adecisionismadeonlyafterthoroughconsideration. 0.74

Ilookatthesamethingfromdifferentperspectives. 0.74

Itrytodevisepotentialsolutionsthatmoveawayfromestablishedwaysofdoingthings. 0.57

Itrytotesteveryconceptduringthecreativeprocess. 0.55

IgenerateasignificantnumberofalternativestothesameproblembeforeIchoosethefinalsolution. 0.54 Ispendconsiderabletimeshiftingthroughinformationthathelpstogeneratenewideas. 0.5 Iretainlargeamountsofdetailedinformationinmyareaofexpertiseforfutureuse. 0.44

Factor2.Creativity 2.2 5.59 49.98

Iamagoodsourceofcreativeideas. 0.82

Iwillsearchesoutnewtechnologies,processes,techniques,and/orproductideaswhenIamlearning. 0.8

Ioftenhaveafreshapproachtoproblems. 0.7

Comesupwithnewandpracticalideastoimproveperformance. 0.7

Developsadequateplansandschedulesfortheimplementationofnewideas. 0.69

Isuggestnewwaystoincreasequality. 0.62

Iamnotafraidtotakerisks. 0.47

Factor3.Culture 1.64 3.85 53.83

Myclassislikeanextendedfamily.Peopleseemtosharealotofthemselves. 0.95

Myclassemphasizeshighcohesionandmorale. 0.91

Thegluethatholdsmyclasstogetherisloyaltyandtrust. 0.86

Myteacherisgenerallyconsideredtobeamentor,oraparentfigure. 0.49

Factor4.Proactivepersonality 1.52 3.3 57.13

Ilovebeingachampionformyideas,evenagainstothers’opposition. 0.75 Nomatterwhattheodds,ifIbelieveinsomethingIwillmakeithappen. 0.72 IfIbelieveinanidea,noobstaclewillpreventmefrommakingithappen. 0.67

IfIseesomethingIdonotlike,Ifixit. 0.66

Icanspotagoodopportunitylongbeforeotherscan. 0.51

Factor5.Satisfaction 1.17 2.2 59.33

IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmygoalsforperformance. 0.91 IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmyoverallstudygoals. 0.81

IamsatisfiedwiththesuccessIhaveachievedinmystudy. 0.78

IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmygoalsforknowledge. 0.69 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkinmeasureofsamplingadequacy

Bartlett’stestofsphericity(significancelevel)

Table2

Resultsofthemodelfitmeasures.

Index Chi-square/df GFI SRMR RMSEA AGFI NFI RFI CFI IFI

OriginalValue 2.343 0.80 0.061 0.070 0.77 0.96 0.96 0.98 0.98

ModifiedValue* 2.122 0.84 0.060 0.064 0.81 0.97 0.96 0.98 0.98

FittedValue <3.0 >0.8 <0.08 <0.08 >0.8 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9

Asteriskrepresentsallthevaluesoffitindexesreachedthefittedvalue,andthemodelexhibitedagoodoverallfit.

5. Discussionandconclusion

Thecreativityscaledevelopedinthisstudyhighlightsthepractitioners’perspectivesontourismandhospitalityand suggestsavarietyofcriticalindictorsthathavebeengatheredfromaliteraturereviewandquestionnaires.Thefirststage analysissuggestsfiveimportantconstructsforthecreativityscale:Process(Pr), Creativity(Cr),Culture(Cu),Proactive personality(Pp),andSatisfaction(Sa).Toexaminethescale’sreliabilityandapplicability,thesecondstageofthisstudy collectedadditionalsamplesandassessedthescale’svalidity.Asexpected,theresultsshowedthatthecompositereliability ofthefivelatentvariablesexhibitedagoodoverallfit.Itappearsthattourismandhospitalitypractitionersfeelthatthe creativityscaledevelopsfromthesefivecriticalattributesandconstructs.

Table3

Resultsofthefitofinternalstructureofmodel.

Factorloadingt-valueCompositereliabilityVarianceextracted

Process(Pr) 0.94 0.59

Pr1 Iassessdifferentopinionsandselectthemostplausibleone. 0.77 14.91 Pr2 Whenasoundideaisgenerated,Iwillimplementitafterthoroughevaluation.0.78 15.29 Pr3 Ilookforconnectionswithsolutionsusedinseemingdiverseareas. 0.82 16.25 Pr4 Ifanideaisnotgoodenough,Iwillseekanewoneinstead. 0.84 16.96

Pr5 Iconsultawidevarietyofinformation. 0.78 15.17

Pr6 Adecisionismadeonlyafterthoroughconsideration. 0.81 15.93 Pr8 Itrytodevisepotentialsolutionsthatmoveawayfromestablishedwaysof

doingthings.

0.72 13.63

Pr9 Itrytotesteveryconceptduringthecreativeprocess. 0.75 14.24 Pr10IgenerateasignificantnumberofalternativestothesameproblembeforeI

choosethefinalsolution.

0.76 14.68

Pr11Ispendconsiderabletimeshiftingthroughinformationthathelpstogenerate newideas.

0.76 14.52

Pr12Iretainlargeamountsofdetailedinformationinmyareaofexpertisefor futureuse.

0.65 11.9

Creativity(Cr) 0.9 0.61

Cr1 Iamagoodsourceofcreativeideas. 0.8 15.53

Cr2 Iwillsearchesoutnewtechnologies,processes,techniques,and/orproduct ideaswhenIamworking.

0.86 17.57

Cr3 Ioftenhaveafreshapproachtoproblems. 0.84 16.89

Cr4 Comesupwithnewandpracticalideastoimproveperformance. 0.77 14.73 Cr5 Developsadequateplansandschedulesfortheimplementationofnewideas. 0.68 12.39

Cr6 Isuggestnewwaystoincreasequality. 0.73 13.77

Culture(Cu) 0.91 0.71

Cu1 Ourorganizationislikeanextendedfamily.Peopleseemtosharethemselvesa lot.

0.82 16.23

Cu2 Ourorganizationemphasizeshighcohesionandmorale. 0.93 19.99 Cu3 Thegluethatholdsourorganizationtogetherisloyaltyandtrust. 0.86 17.55 Cu4 Ourleaderisgenerallyconsideredtobeamentor,oraparentfigure. 0.74 13.95

Proactivepersonality(Pp) 0.85 0.59

Pp1 Ilovebeingachampionformyideas,evenagainstothers’opposition. 0.75 13.92 Pp2 Nomatterwhattheodds,ifIbelieveinsomethingIwillmakeithappen. 0.76 14.13 Pp3 IfIbelieveinanidea,noobstaclewillpreventmefrommakingithappen. 0.76 14.2

Pp4 IfIseesomethingIdonotlike,Ifixit. 0.8 15.21

Satisfaction(Sa) 0.86 0.62

Sa1 IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmygoalsfor performance.

0.9 18.67

Sa2 IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmyoverallcareer goals.

0.9 18.61

Sa3 IamsatisfiedwiththesuccessIhaveachievedinmycareer. 0.81 15.88 Sa4 IamsatisfiedwiththeprogressIhavemadetowardmeetingmygoalsfor

knowledge.

0.46 7.79

Allt-valuesweresignificantatthep<0.001level.

Thisstudyextendsexistingtheoreticalandempiricalmodelsbyincorporatingavarietyofaspectsofcreativity.Theresults oftheempiricalresearchpresentedinthisstudyhaveimportanttheoreticalimplicationsforthetourismandhospitality literatureonthecreativityconcepts.The4Pmodelusedinthestudyillustratesanapplicationofnovelideasstemming fromcreativitytheoryrelatingtothetourismandhospitalityfield.Theextantliteratureoncreativityhashighlightedthe importanceofcreativity,andtherelationshipbetweenproactivepersonality,culture,processandsatisfactionhasgainedsig- nificantattentioninthetourismandhospitalityindustry(e.g.,Kimetal.,2009;Robinson&Beesley,2010;Tierney&Farmer, 2004;Wong&Pang,2003).Aninvestigationofregulationsandrewards,educationandincreasedawarenessofcreativity, andresourcemanagementmaycontributetoanunderstandingofpractitioners’creativitychanges.Thus,itisimportantfor practitionerstoincorporatecreativityintotheirwork.However,fewstudieshavecomprehensivelyexaminedtheimpact ofcreativityonchangesinthetourismandhospitalityindustry.Theresultsofthisstudyindicatethecrucialattributes ofcreativitythatarenecessaryfortourismandhospitalitypractitionersandthatarehighlybeneficialtothesustainable developmentofthisindustry.Giventhelackofattentioninpreviousstudies,thisisanimportantfindingthatprovides significantimplicationsfortourismandhospitalitymanagementliteratures.Thisstudyalsoshedslightonthe4Pmodeland itsapplicationintourismandhospitalityorganizationstoenhanceemployeesatisfactionandcreativityperformance.The findingsrelatedtothe4Papproachopenuparangeofavenuesforincreasingcreativity.

Ourfindingscontributetotheunderstandingofthemainattributesofcreativity.Enhancingcreativityintourismand hospitalitywillfacilitatebehaviouralchangesandincreaseawarenessamongtourismandhospitalityoperatorsaboutthe importanceofcreativity.Thefindingsprovideimportantevidencethatsuggeststhatsomefactors(process,culture,proactive personality,andsatisfaction)influencetourismandhospitalitypractitioners’creativeperformancethroughrealisticand appropriateactions.Finally,thisstudycontributestotheidentificationofcriticaldimensionsofcreativitythatmayinfluence individualawarenessandactions,anareathathasbeenlargelyignored.Karpovaetal.(2013)exploredindustryprofessionals viewedcreativityasartisticcreativityandcreativeproblemsolving.MaierandThomas(2013)highlightedtheimportance ofexperientiallearning,particularlyinhospitalityeducation,andrevealedthatthebenefitsofexperientiallearninginclude creativeandcritical thinkingskills,theintegrationofvariouscourseworkelements,and improvedinterpersonalskills.

Particularlywithinthehospitalityindustry,educatorsareadvisedtofocusspecificallyonproblem-solvingskillsdueto practitioners’numerousdailyinteractionswithcustomerswithinthecustomer-centrichospitalityandtourismindustry (Nicolaides,2012).

Theseresultshaveseveralimplicationsfortourismandhospitalitymanagement.First,theproposedscalecanclearly identifythecontentandstructureofcreativityforpractitionersandcanhelpthemassesswhereimprovementsareneeded.

Second,knowledgeofcreativepracticescanbesharedduringnewemployees’orientationandcurrentemployees’on-the- jobtraining,andthisscalecanbeusedtoevaluatenewemployees.Therefore,thisscaleprovidesimportantresourcesfor tourismandhospitalitymanagersandpractitionerswhentheyhireortrainemployees.Itwouldbebeneficialtousethescale toevaluatethecreativityoffuturepractitioners(i.e.,collegestudentsinrelateddepartments).Finally,andmostimportantly, ifkeyfigures,includinggovernmentalorganizations,supportthecreativeaspectsoftourismandhospitality,operatorsand practitionerscanmakebetteruseofthecreativityscaleanddeveloprelatedfactors.Inthisway,practitionerswillbeaware ofeffortsinboththepublicandprivatesectors,andtheywillbemorewillingtopracticecreativityinthetourismand hospitalityindustry.

Insummary,thisstudyshedslightontheimportantattributesofcreativitythroughtheperspectivesofpractitioners.

However,somelimitationsmustbeconsideredinfurtherresearch.First,thisstudyderivedempiricalresultsfromasample inTaiwan,thusraisingconcernsaboutthestudy’sexternalgeneralizabilitytoothercountries.Differentcountriesmayhave differentcreativity-relatedconceptsandvalues.Itisrecommendedthatfuturestudiesempiricallytestthevalidityofthe creativityconceptsandframeworkinothercountries.Second,tourismandhospitalitymanagementcoversawiderange offields.Thisstudyattemptedtocollectrepresentativesamples,suchastravelagencies,restaurants,hotels,andfoodand beverageoperators,butitsscopeisnotexhaustive.Futureresearchshouldcompareandanalysethedifferentcharacteristics ofdifferentfields(e.g.,travelagencies,hotels,andfoodandbeverageoperators)toprovideoperatorsandplannerswitha cleardirectionandstrategicguidance.

Acknowledgements

TheauthorswouldliketothankanonymousreviewersforusefulsuggestionsandtheMinistryofScienceandTechnology ofTaiwan(ROC)forfinancialsupport(Grantnumber:MOST101-2511-S-451-002-MY3).

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