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Firms increasingly use innovation tournaments to crowdsource innovation ideas from customers. This article uncovers antecedents and consequences of customers’ participation intensity over the course of a tournament. More specifically, the authors theorize on the effects that the type and timing of moderating feedback have on tournament participants’ participation intensity, as well as the effect of the latter on idea quality. Through two longitudinal experiments using a commercial innovation tournament platform, the authors show that moderating feedback stimulates ideators’ participation intensity. They find that negative feedback increases participation intensity, as compared to no feedback and positive feedback. Moreover, negative feedback, either provided in isolation or together with positive feedback, is more effective during the early stages than in the later stages of a tournament. Using a large-scale managerial survey, the authors show that higher participation intensity leads to higher idea quality and better business performance. The effect of participation intensity on idea quality is stronger than the effect of number of ideas and as strong as the effect of number of participants on idea quality.

The link between organizational structure and innovation has been a longstanding interest of organizational scholars, yet the exact nature of the relationship has not been clearly established. Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm, we take a process view and examine how hierarchy of authority—a fundamental element of organizational structure reflecting degree of managerial oversight—differentially influences behavior and performance in the idea generation versus idea selection phases of the innovation process. Using a multimethod approach that includes a field study and a lab experiment, we find that hierarchy of authority is detrimental to the idea generation phase of innovation, but that hierarchy can be beneficial during the screening or selection phase of innovation. We also identify a behavioral mechanism underlying the effect of hierarchy of authority on selection performance and propose that selection is a critical organizational capability that can be strategically developed and managed through organizational design. Our investigation helps clarify the theoretical relationship between structure and innovation performance and demonstrates the behavioral and economic consequences of organizational design choice. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1142 .

The authors explore how firms can enhance consumer performance in online idea generation platforms. Most, if not all, online idea generation platforms offer all consumers identical tasks in which (1) participants are granted access to ideas from other participants and (2) ideas are classified into categories, but consumers can navigate freely across idea categories. The former is linked to stimulus ideas, and the latter may be viewed as a first step toward problem decomposition. The authors propose that the effects of both stimulus ideas and problem decomposition are moderated by consumers' domain-specific knowledge. In particular, concrete cues such as stimulus ideas are more beneficial to low-knowledge consumers, and high-knowledge consumers are better served with abstract cues such as the ones offered by problem decomposition. The authors' hypotheses are supported by an extensive empirical investigation involving more than 6,000 participants. The findings suggest that online idea generation platforms should use problem decomposition more explicitly and that firms should not immediately show other participants' ideas to high-knowledge consumers when they access the platform. In other words, online idea generation platforms should customize the task structure on the basis of each participant's domain-specific knowledge.

Increasing globalization has created tremendous opportunities and challenges for organizations and societies. Consequently, a broad range of information technologies to better support the collaboration of diverse, and increasingly distributed, sets of participants is ever more utilized. Arguably, the success of such technology-mediated collaboration is dependent upon the quality of each individual's contributions; however, although individuals' motivations to do their best could be significantly influenced by the design of a system's human-computer interface, this area has received little attention within the context of group collaboration environments. We fill this gap by integrating research from human-computer interaction, motivation, and technology-supported group work to theoretically derive mechanisms for increasing each individual's motivation within a collective setting. Specifically, we manipulate the interface of a computer-mediated idea generation system (a widely used collaboration tool) to enhance the system's motivational affordance, i.e., the system's properties that fulfill users' motivational needs. Results from two studies demonstrate that by embedding the theoretically derived mechanisms \"providing feedback\" and \"designing for optimal challenge\" into the collaboration environment, significant performance gains were realized. The results suggest that even slight manipulations of the human-computer interface can contribute significantly to the successful design of a wide variety of group collaboration environments.

Purpose This study aims to explore the transmission mechanism of individual idea generation on team idea implementation and elucidate the relationships among team knowledge territoriality, team information exchange and team trust, which can better improve team knowledge sharing, decrease individual knowledge hiding or territoriality and assist the team in solving the predicament of idea implementation. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected by the paired method from 56 Chinese companies’ R&D teams, which comprised 356 valid samples. Besides, structure equitation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling were used to test the hypotheses. Findings Team knowledge territoriality had a significant positive impact on individual idea generation, team information exchange and team idea implementation. Team information exchange mediated the relationship between team knowledge territoriality and team idea implementation. Moreover, team information exchange positively moderated the relationship between team knowledge territoriality and individual idea generation. Furthermore, the relationship between individual idea generation and team idea implementation was mediated by team trust. Originality/value This study augments the theoretical research of territoriality and innovation process. From the viewpoint of knowledge territoriality to describe the coexistence of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding in the organization, this study reveals the influence mechanism of team knowledge territoriality on team innovation process. Overall, this study provides empirical support that team territoriality can weaken the adverse impact of individual territoriality on innovation to a certain extent.

Purpose Building on the territoriality perspective and innovation process theory, to the purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of transmission and influence of knowledge territorial behavior congruence on innovation process, which provides theoretical implications for innovative teams to execute territoriality management and create a constructive knowledge sharing climate and platform for sustainable innovation of individuals and organizations. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected by the paired method from 311 creative R&D members. In addition, polynomial regressions and response surface method were adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings The more congruent the marking behavior and defensive behavior were, the higher the creative idea generation and idea implementation became. The congruence of “high marking high defensive behavior” was more conducive to triggering creative idea generation and promoting idea implementation. Compared with the incongruence of “low marking high defensive behavior,” the incongruence of “high marking low defensive behavior” was more conducive to stimulating creative idea generation. However, there was no significant difference in the incongruence effect of marking defensive behavior on idea implementation. In addition, creative idea generation mediated the relationship between knowledge territorial behavior congruence and idea implementation. Furthermore, team territorial climate moderated the relationship between knowledge territorial behavior congruence and creative idea generation. Originality/value The study highlights the theoretical research of territoriality and innovation process. By deconstructing the relationship between the territorial behavior congruence and the innovation process, this study establishes that the congruence and incongruence of the marking defensive behavior in knowledge territoriality exerts different effects on creative idea generation and idea implementation.

PurposePrevious research has yielded inconsistent findings of the effects that task conflict has on creative outcomes, with some research finding a negative relationship but others holding a positive or even no significant relationship. Drawing on the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect approach, this paper aims to investigate the curvilinear relations between task conflict and creative idea generation as well as the mediating role of task reflexivity and the moderating role of task complexity.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were carried out to test the proposed relationship. In Study 1, multisource and lagged data collected from 533 employees and 140 corresponding supervisors were used to test the curvilinear relationship between task conflict and creative idea generation as well as the moderating effect of task complexity. In Study 2, the authors extended the findings by exploring the mediating effect of task reflexivity using a matched sample of 350 employees and 99 corresponding supervisors.FindingsTask conflict had an inverted U-shaped relationship with creative idea generation, and task reflexivity partially mediated this relationship. Besides, this association was moderated by task complexity such that the curvilinear relationship was more pronounced for tasks with lower complexity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was more or less contaminated by common method variance because some variables were derived from the same sources. Also, task conflict might be necessitated to differentiate and more situational variables should be considered to draw a complete picture.Practical implicationsManagers should undertake conflict management according to the levels of task conflict and task complexity. At a lower degree of task conflict, managers might motivate employees to think more about task-related issues; at higher levels of task conflict, managers should act as conflict mediators to reduce the underlying negative effects, especially for simple tasks.Originality/valueThese findings could help us understand the boundary conditions under, and the underlying mechanisms by, which task conflict has an impact on creative idea generation.

Idea generation, as a key component of the Front End of Innovation (FEI), is a critical phase in entrepreneurial endeavors, serving as the foundation for new venture creation and product development. Innovation management and entrepreneurship literature underscores the importance of idea generation, emphasizing its role as an essential precursor to successful ventures and products. While academic research has extensively explored the FEI and idea generation methods, a significant gap remains in developing FEI models for broad use or specific contexts. Especially, there is a lack of action-oriented, performative models that offer detailed, applicable techniques and tools. Existing models often adopt only a corporate perspective, are overly broad, use complex structures or miss the use of new emerging digital tools, which makes these models not accessible or relevant to entrepreneurs or applicable across different industries or product types. To address these issues, employing the Integrative Literature Review Methodology, this study proposes a comprehensive FEI framework designed to facilitate the development of new idea-generation models that cater to different types of users and contexts and incorporate contemporary techniques and tools. The framework focuses on six (6) key dimensions of FEI models: (1) Model Orientation, Scope and Context; (2) Innovation Type and Innovation Drivers; (3) Model Structure and Visualization; (4) Flow of Activities, Flexibility and Adaptability; (5) Core FEI Activities and Granularity; and (6) Toolkit (Tools and Techniques), offering a range of recommendations for each. It aims to provide scholars and practitioners (entrepreneurs, teams, or companies) with a systematic approach to creating usable FEI models that make the Front End of Innovation more structured and predictable.Idea generation, as a key component of the Front End of Innovation (FEI), is a critical phase in entrepreneurial endeavors, serving as the foundation for new venture creation and product development. Innovation management and entrepreneurship literature underscores the importance of idea generation, emphasizing its role as an essential precursor to successful ventures and products. While academic research has extensively explored the FEI and idea generation methods, a significant gap remains in developing FEI models for broad use or specific contexts. Especially, there is a lack of action-oriented, performative models that offer detailed, applicable techniques and tools. Existing models often adopt only a corporate perspective, are overly broad, use complex structures or miss the use of new emerging digital tools, which makes these models not accessible or relevant to entrepreneurs or applicable across different industries or product types. To address these issues, employing the Integrative Literature Review Methodology, this study proposes a comprehensive FEI framework designed to facilitate the development of new idea-generation models that cater to different types of users and contexts and incorporate contemporary techniques and tools. The framework focuses on six (6) key dimensions of FEI models: (1) Model Orientation, Scope and Context; (2) Innovation Type and Innovation Drivers; (3) Model Structure and Visualization; (4) Flow of Activities, Flexibility and Adaptability; (5) Core FEI Activities and Granularity; and (6) Toolkit (Tools and Techniques), offering a range of recommendations for each. It aims to provide scholars and practitioners (entrepreneurs, teams, or companies) with a systematic approach to creating usable FEI models that make the Front End of Innovation more structured and predictable.Idea generation, as a key component of the Front End of Innovation (FEI), is a critical phase in entrepreneurial endeavors, serving as the foundation for new venture creation and product development. Innovation management and entrepreneurship literature underscores the importance of idea generation, emphasizing its role as an essential precursor to successful ventures and products. While academic research has extensively explored the FEI and idea generation methods, a significant gap remains in developing FEI models for broad use or specific contexts. Especially, there is a lack of action-oriented, performative models that offer detailed, applicable techniques and tools. Existing models often adopt only a corporate perspective, are overly broad, use complex structures or miss the use of new emerging digital tools, which makes these models not accessible or relevant to entrepreneurs or applicable across different industries or product types. To address these issues, employing the Integrative Literature Review Methodology, this study proposes a comprehensive FEI framework designed to facilitate the development of new idea-generation models that cater to different types of users and contexts and incorporate contemporary techniques and tools. The framework focuses on six (6) key dimensions of FEI models: (1) Model Orientation, Scope and Context; (2) Innovation Type and Innovation Drivers; (3) Model Structure and Visualization; (4) Flow of Activities, Flexibility and Adaptability; (5) Core FEI Activities and Granularity; and (6) Toolkit (Tools and Techniques), offering a range of recommendations for each. It aims to provide scholars and practitioners (entrepreneurs, teams, or companies) with a systematic approach to creating usable FEI models that make the Front End of Innovation more structured and predictable.

Analogical thinking is one of the most effective tools to generate innovative ideas. It enables us to develop new ideas by transferring information from well-known domains and utilizing them in a novel domain. However, using analogical thinking does not always yield appropriate ideas, and there is a lack of consensus among researchers regarding the evaluation methods for assessing new ideas. Here, we define the appropriateness of generated ideas as having high structural and low superficial similarities with their source ideas. This study investigates the relationship between thinking process and the appropriateness of ideas generated through analogical thinking. We conducted four workshops with 22 students in order to collect the data. All generated ideas were assessed based on the definition of appropriateness in this study. The results show that participants who deliberate more before reaching the creative leap stage and those who are engaged in more trial and error for deciding the final domain of a new idea have a greater possibility of generating appropriate ideas. The findings suggest new strategies of designing workshops to enhance the appropriateness of new ideas.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of two types of trust (vertical and horizontal trust) on knowledge sharing (knowledge donating and knowledge collecting) and the impact of knowledge sharing on innovative work behavior (idea generation and idea realization). The study also explores the mediating role of knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares path modeling and data collected from 252 participants at one large Polish capital group were used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that both vertical trust and horizontal trust are positively related to knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Contrary to knowledge collecting, knowledge donating is significantly related to idea generation, which is highly correlated with idea realization. There is no direct relation between knowledge sharing behavior and idea realization. Knowledge donating mediates the relationship between vertical trust and idea generation.Research limitations/implicationsSelf-reports and the cross-sectional nature of the data collection are the main limitations of this study.Practical implicationsThe results allow managers to better understand what factors and processes contribute to greater employee innovativeness.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, the study is the first to examine the relationships among vertical trust, horizontal trust, knowledge donating, knowledge collecting, idea generation and idea realization in an integrated way. This paper answered the questions (1) which type of trust is more important for knowledge sharing, and (2) which type of knowledge sharing behavior is more important for innovative work behavior. This paper investigated whether differences in the strength of relationships between constructs are significant.