Diversity by Design: Analogizing and Formative Investigation across Disciplines and Cultures

Abstract

This article addresses the relatively neglected issue of leveraging variations in the analogies and creative outcomes across different national and design cultures for innovations. It argues that the formative investigation of cultures as an expression of their analogies differs in important ways from other innovative behaviors. Formative investigation of various cultures embeds various underlying cognitive representations that enable them to formulate, experiment with and evaluate new or vague ideas and solutions. We develop and test hypotheses by examining the formative investigation and creative outcomes of 250 millennial students from different national and design cultures. That is, male and female students who are Caucasian American, Asian or Hispanic and belonging to industrial, graphic or craft design disciplines. The results demonstrate differences in the formative investigation and creative outcomes of the various cultures. In conclusion the study argues a key aspect of creativity outcomes and innovation relevant to leverage of knowledge across cultures for innovation is the cognitive representations that differentiates one culture from another and facilitates formative investigation in unique ways. We argue for the leverage of this diversity to enhance creative outcomes in marketing.