An in-depth analysis of PCMI dimensions for museum creativity

The Product Creativity Measurement Instrument (the PCMI model) is a dominant model for assessing product creativity. It has two editions but has not been validated in the context of museum creativity. The aims of this research are (1) to validate the PCMI model in the context of museum creativity and (2) to understand the dimensions and their indicators from the museum's perspective. Before validation, we proposed four hypotheses regarding the roles of Novelty, Resolution, Importance and Affect in Creativity. We designed an online questionnaire (in 7-point Likert Scales style) based on the four PCMI dimensions (Novelty, Resolution, Affect and Importance) to test them. The samples we used in the survey are five “Strom Bottles” from three top museums worldwide based on the nominations and suggestions from experts (N = 12) in two independent focus groups. In the sample rating stage, we invited 317 participants (94 experts and 223 consumers) to assess these five creative products, and the overall result is of high reliability (Cronbach α=0.991). Afterwards, the data were tested by exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in SPSSPRO, and PLS-SEM in SmartPLS, through which several indicators were removed, and the result was satisfactory. The data supported that the Affect dimension comprises the Emotion but rejected the attempt to include Attraction and Desire. The results showed that the Affect dimension other than the Novelty is the factor that impacts museum creativity assessment positively, dominantly, and significantly. Moreover, the survey data revealed that Resolution could not be removed in the context of museum creativity. The data also supported that Importance is crucial to museum creativity, and this dimension should be retained. The research also discovered that some PCMI model indicators are incompatible with the museum context. Thus, adjustment as per the context is essential. The implication for the design practice of museum products is that the Affect dimension should be prioritized over Novelty.