Creative Jolts: Exploring How Entrepreneurs Let Go of Ideas During Creative Revision

Toivonen, Tuukka; Idoko, Onyaglanu; Jha, Harsh Kumar; Harvey, Sarah

doi:10.5465/amj.2020.1054

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…Then, problem/solution combinations that were not previously formulated emerge by surprise (Von Hippel and von Krogh, 2016). Thus, serendipitous innovation can be differentiated from targeted innovation by its element of surprise , and unplanned, exploratory learning outcomes often emerge from experimentation (Garud et al, 2018; Smith and Hibolling, 2022; Toivonen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Theory of Serendipity: A Systematic Review and Conceptualization

Busch

2022

J Management Studies

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Serendipity – the notion of making surprising and valuable discoveries – plays a major role in the success of individuals and organizations alike. Previous research has established the importance of serendipity and identified important individual‐ and organizational‐level antecedents. However, the literature has been dispersed and the boundaries of the concept have been blurry, leading to a lack of conceptual clarity and structure, and thus limiting validity and managerial actionability. Based on a systematic literature review, I synthesize existing management‐related research on serendipity and explicate the emergence and composition of serendipity in the organizational context. I first identify three necessary conditions that differentiate serendipity from related concepts such as luck or targeted innovation: agency, surprise, and value. Then, I draw from the literature on sensemaking, event‐based theorizing, and quantum‐based approaches to management to conceptualize the process of cultivating serendipity in the organizational context as a process of enabling potentiality and materialization, and develop a multi‐level theory of (cultivating) serendipity. This conceptualization contributes to our collective understanding of how, why, and when (i.e., under what conditions) organizations can leverage the value in the unexpected, which opens up fruitful avenues for further research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Theory of Serendipity: A Systematic Review and Conceptualization

Busch

2022

J Management Studies

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“…Sometimes creators generate all their ideas before evaluating them, but at other times they may evaluate a small set of ideas and build on them (Harvey and Kou, 2013; Harrison and Rouse, 2015). Creators may iterate between these processes repeatedly over the course of a long-term creative project (Harvey, 2014; Amabile and Pratt, 2016), sometimes returning to square one to make significant changes to a well-developed idea (e.g., Rahman and Barley, 2017; Toivonen et al, 2022).…”

Section: Managing Ideas In Creative Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The view that creative portfolios continually evolve also has implications for research on creative identities. Prior research has shown how creators can come to see ideas as extensions of the self (Elsbach, 2009;Grimes, 2018) and experience negative emotions and identity threat when they face the prospect of changing or letting go of those ideas (Rouse, 2013;Toivonen et al, 2022). In the context of a creative portfolio, a creator may derive a sense of identity from the portfolio of projects they have worked on rather than from a single idea that they become attached to.…”

Section: Contributions Of the Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on psychological ownership shows that creators become deeply attached to ideas by investing in and associating strongly with them (Belk, 1988;Pierce, Kostova, and Dirks, 2001), coming to see ideas as extensions of themselves (Elsbach, 2009;Grimes, 2018). They may thus experience intense negative emotions and threats to their identity if they have to let go of ideas (Rouse, 2013(Rouse, , 2016Toivonen et al, 2022). Working on multiple projects can intensify negative feelings in at least two ways.…”

Section: Managing Ideas Across Multiple Projects In a Creative Portfoliomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ideas in the Space Between: Stockpiling and Processes for Managing Ideas in Developing a Creative Portfolio

Ananth

Harvey

2023

Administrative Science Quarterly

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Research on the creative process has focused on how an idea develops within a single focal creative project. But creators often work to develop creative portfolios featuring multiple projects that overlap and intertwine over time. Through an inductive qualitative study of creative workers in independent theater and in architecture, we explore how creators manage ideas across multiple projects when developing creative portfolios. Our emergent model shows how creators shift ideas across projects by stockpiling ideas from one creative project, transforming them into resources, and mobilizing them in their portfolios. Our analysis reveals that these practices unfold in distinct ways across two different processes for managing ideas: managing ideas strategically to build portfolios by realizing stockpiled ideas in new creative products across different opportunities, and managing ideas symbolically to balance creative outputs with new meanings constructed from unrealized ideas that represent the creator’s identity and journey. Our findings reveal the critical role of stockpiling in creative work, showing how different ways of stockpiling transform ideas into resources for developing a portfolio. Our portfolio perspective on the creative process informs our understanding of creative portfolios as they develop and evolve as well as the dynamics of creative processes as they unfold across different projects.

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“…Furthermore, in the later stages of the innovation process, people engage in creative activities to envision solutions, a process that involves first imagining ideas and concepts, then evaluating whether they are appropriate in the new context (Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2017). This activity may require them to shift, transform or let go of ideas and beliefs in favour of new ones (Toivonen et al, 2023), experiencing a meaning void to be filled through social interactions and sensemaking (Kaffka et al, 2013). Thus, sensemaking is also required in the final stages of developing plausible and sustainable outcomes in a new environment (Pendleton-Jullian & Brown, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What kind of intimacy is meaningful to you? How intimate interactions foster individuals' sensemaking of innovation

2023

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This study examines how intimacy affects individuals' sensemaking of innovation in their organization. Although sensemaking facilitates understanding innovation and envisioning new worldviews, it involves a delicate process of self‐disclosure, reflection, personal contact and communication. Intimacy focuses on time‐bounded interactions that foster individuals' progressive self‐disclosure and perceptions of mutual understanding. Therefore, drawing on intimacy theories, we investigate from a microlevel perspective how temporally bounded intimate interactions foster the meaningfulness of innovation for individuals. As sensemaking processes differ in large‐scale radical and incremental innovations, we examine both contexts in a post hoc analysis. Through a field study, we show that different intimacy dynamics (emotional, cognitive and listening) influence meaningfulness perceptions. In particular, we find that the emotional intimacy dynamics positively influence meaningfulness perceptions in the context of radical innovation initiatives, while the cognitive and listening intimacy dynamics positively influence meaningfulness perceptions in the context of incremental innovation initiatives. This study contributes to the sensemaking innovation literature by introducing intimacy as an enabler of sensemaking. Our study also suggests that managers should encourage moments of intimate interaction when pursuing innovation to facilitate sensemaking of change.

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Creative Jolts: Exploring How Entrepreneurs Let Go of Ideas During Creative Revision

Cited by 17 publications

References 104 publications

Towards a Theory of Serendipity: A Systematic Review and Conceptualization

Towards a Theory of Serendipity: A Systematic Review and Conceptualization

Ideas in the Space Between: Stockpiling and Processes for Managing Ideas in Developing a Creative Portfolio

What kind of intimacy is meaningful to you? How intimate interactions foster individuals' sensemaking of innovation

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