Think Creatively Outside the Search Box: Divergent and Convergent Thinking Using Creativity Support Search Tools

ABSTRACT Information searching plays a critical role in idea generation. However, the connection between search behaviors and creative thinking processes remains underexplored. This study investigates how creativity support search tools guide idea generation during divergent and convergent thinking tasks by comparing a visual‐based and a text‐based search tool. Based on think‐aloud protocols and interviews with 58 participants, we found that the two tools supported different aspects of the creative thinking processes. The visual‐based tool fostered iterative engagement, helping users revisit, reorganize, and make idea connections, while the text‐based tool encouraged more linear and straightforward strategies such as note‐taking. Divergent thinking led to broad, exploratory searching and flexible relevance judgments, whereas convergent thinking prompted early filtering and focused evaluation. These findings reveal the cognitive complexity in transitioning from search to idea generation, and highlight the potential for search systems to better support creativity by scaffolding key stages of the idea generation process.