HOW INFORMATION CONTRIBUTED AFTER AN IDEA SHAPES NEW HIGH-QUALITY IDEAS IN ONLINE IDEATION CONTESTS1

Aron Lindberg, Ann Majchrzak, Arvind Malhotra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Findings on how prior high-quality ideas affect the quality of subsequent ideas in online ideation contests have been mixed. Some studies find that high-quality ideas lead to subsequent high-quality ideas, while others find the opposite. Based on computationally intensive exploratory research, utilizing theory on blending of mental spaces, we suggest that the effects of prior ideas on the generation of subsequent ideas depend on the alignment of (1) crowd participants’ subjective quality assessments of prior ideas and (2) subsequent problem-related contributions made by the crowd. When a prior idea is assessed as high-quality, this motivates the crowd to emulate that idea. When this motivation is aligned with subsequent contributions that expand the mental space of the prior idea, a new high-quality idea can be created. In contrast, when a prior idea is assessed as low-quality, it motivates the crowd to redirect away from that idea. When this motivation is aligned with subsequent contributions that shift the mental space of the prior idea, a new high-quality idea can be created. The mixed findings in the literature can then be explained by a failure to consider non-idea information contributions made by the crowd.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1195-1208
Number of pages14
JournalMIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems
Volume46
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022

Keywords

  • blending
  • crowds
  • group creativity
  • idea generation
  • innovation
  • mental spaces
  • Online ideation contests
  • open innovation

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