Creativity and Risk Taking Aren't Rational: Behavioral Operations in MOT

Behavioral Operations Management explicitly considers the effects of human behavior in process performance, influenced by cognitive biases, social preferences, and cultural norms. This broadening of Operations is even more critical in the context of the Management of Technology (MOT) than in the operations of established ongoing processes, because in innovation, people do not know well which tasks they will have to perform, they are exposed to risks, and they are subject to emergent interdependencies, all of which push psychological biases and social preferences to the fore. This article gives an overview of important behavioral challenges in MOT, setting them in the context of the phases of the stage gate process on the one hand, and the three levels of individual biases, group member interactions, and large group interactions (e.g., culture) on the other hand. The review suggests that previous work has not addressed a number of important questions in empirical effects and theoretical underpinnings, gaps that are very important for the performance of organizations in practice. The article concludes by offering opportunities for high‐impact future work.