Virtue accounts of innovation ethics have recognized the virtue of creativity as an admirable trait in innovators. However, such accounts have not paid sufficient attention to the way creativity functions as a collective phenomenon. We propose a collective virtue account to supplement existing virtue accounts. We base our account on Kieran’s definition of creativity as a virtue and distinguish three components in it: creative output, mastery and intrinsic motivation. We argue that all of these components can meaningfully be attributed to innovation groups. This means that we can also attribute the virtue of creativity to group agents involved in innovation. Recognizing creativity as a collective virtue in innovation is important because it allows for a more accurate evaluation of how successful innovation generally happens. The innovator who takes a collective virtue account of creativity seriously will give attention to the facilitation of an environment where the group can flourish collectively, rather than only nurturing the individual genius.

对创新道德的美德描述已将创造力的优点视为创新者令人钦佩的特质。但是，这样的描述并没有充分注意创造力作为一种集体现象的作用方式。我们提出了一个集体美德账户，以补充现有的美德账户。我们根据基兰对创造力作为美德的定义进行说明，并区分其中的三个组成部分：创造力输出，掌握和内在动机。我们认为，所有这些组成部分都可以有意义地归因于创新团队。这意味着我们还可以将创造力的优点归因于参与创新的团体代理。将创造力视为创新的集体美德很重要，因为它可以更准确地评估创新通常是如何发生的。