Search

Humour is an integral part of human interactions, but it is not clear how it contributes to creativity in innovation. This paper provides new insights into the emerging literature about the impact of humour on creativity in innovation by conceptualizing humour as a situation‐specific state and using a mixed methods research design to investigate the use and impact of humour in two specific innovation contexts: idea generation by customers and collaboration in innovation teams. Our research makes four important contributions. (1) It suggests and demonstrates the relevance of a situation‐specific humorous mood. (2) It distinguishes between natural and instrumental humour and emphasizes that a purposely induced humorous mood can enhance creativity. (3) It shows that the impact of humour is not limited to a firm's individual employees but can also include external actors, such as customers and interactions between members of innovation teams. (4) It identifies the key drivers and effects of humorous mood in innovation. The findings from two empirical studies are integrated into a framework that captures the key concepts and relationships and that is also used to derive several directions for further research to better understand the effects of humour on creativity in the context of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends research on online innovation contests by focusing on the process of an innovation contest. The authors propose that the decision of a solver to join a contest and the likelihood that a solver will submit a high‐quality solution are functions of the current number of solvers in a contest and of the current number of high‐quality solutions. The hypotheses are tested in an empirical analysis using a unique data set of 1351 online innovation contests for graphic design projects. The study finds that solvers joining a contest and solvers submitting high‐quality solutions are two dynamic and interacting processes that impact the outcomes of an innovation contest. More specifically, the results reveal that (1) a solver is less likely to join a contest that already has many solvers, and many high‐quality solutions; (2) a solver is more likely to submit a high‐quality solution in a contest if the contest has already many solvers or the focal solver has already submitted one or more high‐quality solutions; (3) a solver is less likely to submit a high‐quality solution if the contest already has many high‐quality solutions developed by others. Organizers of online innovation contests need to understand these complex relationships when they manage contests and aim to improve contest performance. This article details the implications of these findings for the theory and practice of innovation contests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Support for repetitive decision-making can be provided by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which is usually employed to support one-time decisions. Criteria levels needed to judge various sets of alternatives are classified into groups that represent intensities of a criterion. Findings show that absolute measurement approach opens other possibilities for AHP applications.