Barriers to Creativity in Distributed Product Development

Abstract

Processes involving creative problem-solving are known to be challenging for distributed teams. To better support product development teams working in distributed settings with their creative processes, the positive and negative influences on creativity need to be known and understood. This contribution focuses on delivering a broad understanding of specifically the barriers to creative problem-solving. To reach this goal a systematic literature review was carried out where 418 initial results were found and then systematically broken down to the 49 most relevant results. 47 barriers were identified, analyzed and integrating into an impact model that now shows not only success factors but also barriers to creativity. With the impact model at hand, targeted support can be created to overcome the challenges distributed teams face when it comes to creative processes.