Beyond the Generation of Ideas: Virtual Idea Campaigns to Spur Creativity and Innovation

Anne Elerud-Tryde () and Sophie Hooge ()
Additional contact information
Anne Elerud-Tryde: Department of technology management and economics - Chalmers University of Technology [Göteborg]
Sophie Hooge: CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Firms striving to maintain high rates of innovation need a continuous flow of new ideas. This is resulting in the establishment by large firms of IT platforms to generate ideas for innova- tion, and to encourage employees and customers to participate in innovation contests. However, there has been little published research on the use of IT platforms for idea genera- tion by employees, and it is unclear whether they facilitate in-house innovation. The purpose is to investigate how firms use IT platforms internally to generate ideas, and how their use contributes to the innovation process in large firms. We rely on data from two collaborative research projects in the automotive industry: Volvo Cars and Renault. We found that both firms used IT platforms as campaigns to promote innovation and to involve employees in the innovation process. The findings suggest that these virtual idea campaigns support innovation in large firms mainly by (1) encouraging employee creativity in idea generation and (2) involving employees and top managers simultaneously in the innovation process. This paper contributes to idea management systems theory by highlighting the importance of virtual idea campaigns for the firm's innovation process, and their dual role.

Keywords: creativity; virtual idea platform; idea management system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published in Creativity and Innovation Management, 2014, 23 (3), pp.290-302. ⟨10.1111/caim.12066⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01032451

DOI: 10.1111/caim.12066

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().