Global changes and developments have increased the focus on entrepreneurship. This is due to its significance in the creation of jobs, strategic realignments, privatization of public enterprises, economic development, and solving problems at the national and global levels, all of which require creativity. There is much research that suggests that entrepreneurs are more creative than other people. Contrary to this, other researchers are of the view that entrepreneurs are not necessarily more creative but that they make use of the opportunities available in addition to having better knowledge, skills and experience.
Creativity is thought of as the ability to come up with new ways of doing things, solving problems, and leading in an environment of uncertainty and risk with attributes of high motivational levels, persistence, open-mindedness, accountability and prudence in making decisions). Other researchers are of the opinion that creativity also includes commitment, setting goals and having the desire to learn as well as teamwork. The problem with addressing creativity is that these aspects that describe it cannot be measured in an effective way and they may change.
Fontela et al. argue that although all people are faced with opportunities and challenges that have elements of risk and uncertainty, not all are willing to take up the risks and venture into new areas with uncertainty. This ability is what distinguishes entrepreneurs from other people. In addition, people are normally resistant to change and prefer security. On the contrary, entrepreneurs are passionate about doing things in a different way. This is driven by their curiosity which distinguishes them as agents of change.
Consequently, comparisons of entrepreneurs and ordinary people show that while ordinary people have characteristics of maintaining the status quo, traditional thinking, beliefs of resource limitation, avoiding risk and a survival mentality, entrepreneurs on the other hand are visionary, global thinkers, sources for resources, take risks and have success mentalities. Further research of brain scans of normal people and entrepreneurs while engaged in creative tasks revealed that the entrepreneurs had a bigger right brain hemisphere which is responsible for creativity than the ordinary people.
Critics of the opinion that entrepreneurs are more creative point out that the research are based on the ability to start a business or expand an existing one. They argue that creativity is dynamic and applicable in multiple disciplines and motivation for creativity needs to be more than situational. Foyelle and Klandt are of the view that creativity in entrepreneurship can be developed with improvements in skills, motivation, networking, mentorship and knowledge.
The introduction of entrepreneurship as a discipline includes skills such as communication and creative thinking among others which means that one can increase their creativity. Creativity in entrepreneurship is affected by changes in situations. This means that non-entrepreneurs are likely to prove very creative when faced with situations that require it such as job loss, divorce, marriage or unemployment. The influences of factors such as religion, race, gender, work and technical training experience, age and socio-economic status of the family tend to overrule the claims of differences of creativity for entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs.