There are no significant differences between men’s and women’s creativity, new research from Trinity Business School has found. But people’s creativity is aided or hindered in different ways depending on their gender, the researchers say.

A study, led by Ana Pérez-Luño, a professor at Trinity Business School, in collaboration with Rocio Aguilar of Pablo de Olavide University and Maria Felisa Muñoz of León University in Spain, has explored how personality traits, team dynamics, and gender influence creativity, surveying 639 university students to investigate these factors.

Pérez-Luño and colleagues found that four personality traits extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, positively impact creativity.

However, when it comes to leveraging personality traits for creativity, some gender-specific nuances emerged. Highly extroverted women, for example, were found to be more creative than highly extroverted men, while low extravert men were more creative than low extravert women.

Similarly, less emotionally stable women exhibited greater creativity than less emotionally stable men, and highly emotionally stable men were more creative than highly emotionally stable women.

“This research highlights an important reality: gender does not determine creativity. Instead, we must understand how different personality traits influence creativity. The work also challenges traditional gender stereotypes. Our hope is that this contributes to reducing the gender gap in society, emphasizing that both men and women can be equally creative,” says Professor Pérez-Luño.

The paper, The Influence of Personality and Team-Member Exchange on Creativity: A Gendered Approach, has been published in Gender in Management.