IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v81y2017icp1-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Searching outside the box in creative problem solving: The role of creative thinking skills and domain knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Montag-Smit, Tamara
  • Maertz, Carl P.

Abstract

This study provides evidence for how factual (directly relevant for developing creative solutions) vs. range (indirectly relevant) information can be used to provoke idea generation and effective creative outcomes. Data were obtained from 127 staff, faculty, and students at a private Midwest university. The results show that the effect of type of information was moderated by the participant's creative thinking skill and domain knowledge. For individuals high in creative thinking skill, range information improved idea generation originality, which in turn enhanced creative outcome novelty but reduced outcome usefulness. Factual information, under various conditions, both helped and hindered creative outcome usefulness. Overall, presenting information during idea generation can improve creative outcome effectiveness. Managers should be careful to present the appropriate information at the appropriate time, however.

Suggested Citation

  • Montag-Smit, Tamara & Maertz, Carl P., 2017. "Searching outside the box in creative problem solving: The role of creative thinking skills and domain knowledge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:81:y:2017:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.07.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317302503
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.07.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ardichvili, Alexander & Cardozo, Richard & Ray, Sourav, 2003. "A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 105-123, January.
    2. van Damme, E.E.C., 2004. "Creatief ondernemen," Other publications TiSEM 0df8a86a-a703-4b76-91d4-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2012. "Education or Creativity: What Matters Most for Economic Performance?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(4), pages 369-401, October.
    4. Gunnar L.H Svendsen & Gert T. Svendsen, 2004. "The Creation and Destruction of Social Capital," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3276.
    5. Malhotra, Naresh K, 1982. "Information Load and Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(4), pages 419-430, March.
    6. Robert Wilson & J. Guilford & Paul Christensen & Donald Lewis, 1954. "A factor-analytic study of creative-thinking abilities," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 19(4), pages 297-311, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rampersad, Giselle, 2020. "Robot will take your job: Innovation for an era of artificial intelligence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 68-74.
    2. Xingsen Li & Junlin Zeng & Haitao Liu & Peizhuang Wang, 2022. "Intelligent Problem Solving Model and its Cross Research Directions Based on Factor Space and Extenics," Annals of Data Science, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 469-484, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    2. Antje Schmitt & Kathrin Rosing & Stephen X. Zhang & Michael Leatherbee, 2018. "A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Uncertainty and Business Opportunity Identification: Exploration as a Mediator and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy as a Moderator," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(6), pages 835-859, November.
    3. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Michael Siering, 2019. "The recipe of successful crowdfunding campaigns," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 661-679, December.
    4. Georgios Palaiologos & Zainab Al Khunaizi, 2017. "Growing the Arab Family Business (1): Hybrid Organizational Arrangements," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, Macrothink Institute, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, vol. 4(1), pages 2546-2546, December.
    5. Lois M. Shelton & Maria Minniti, 2018. "Enhancing product market access: Minority entrepreneurship, status leveraging, and preferential procurement programs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 481-498, March.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/8470 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Daniel R Clark & Dan Li & Dean A Shepherd, 2018. "Country familiarity in the initial stage of foreign market selection," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 442-472, May.
    8. Aidis, Ruta & Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2008. "Institutions and entrepreneurship development in Russia: A comparative perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 656-672, November.
    9. Jones, Raymond J. & Barnir, Anat, 2019. "Properties of opportunity creation and discovery: Comparing variation in contexts of innovativeness," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Sander Hoogendoorn & Simon C. Parker & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "Smart or Diverse Start-up Teams? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(6), pages 1010-1028, December.
    11. Tianchang Ni & Runping Zhu & Richard Krever, 2023. "Responses to News Overload in a Non-Partisan Environment: News Avoidance in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    12. Sharine Barth & Jo Barraket & Belinda Luke & Juliana McLaughlin, 2015. "Acquaintance or partner? Social economy organizations, institutional logics and regional development in Australia," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3-4), pages 219-254, April.
    13. Tomi Rajala, 2019. "Mind the Information Expectation Gap," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 104-125, March.
    14. Schwens, Christian & Kabst, Ruediger, 2011. "Internationalization of young technology firms: A complementary perspective on antecedents of foreign market familiarity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 60-74, February.
    15. Wenyao Zhang & Tugrul Daim & Qingpu Zhang, 2019. "Exploring the Multi-Phase Driven Process for Disruptive Business Model Innovation of E-Business Microcredit: a Multiple Case Study from China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 590-617, June.
    16. Shaoling Chen & Susheng Wang & Haisheng Yang, 2015. "Spatial Competition and Interdependence in Strategic Decisions: Empirical Evidence from Franchising," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 91(2), pages 165-204, April.
    17. Simon Parker, 2014. "Who become serial and portfolio entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 887-898, December.
    18. Adriana Breaban & Juan Carlos Matallín-Sáez & Iván Barreda-Tarrazona & Mª Rosario Balaguer-Franch, 2014. "Special Section: Experiments on Learning, Methods, and Voting," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 332-354, August.
    19. Vandor, Peter & Franke, Nikolaus, 2016. "See Paris and… found a business? The impact of cross-cultural experience on opportunity recognition capabilities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 388-407.
    20. Jan Trzaskowski, 2011. "Behavioural Economics, Neuroscience, and the Unfair Commercial Practises Directive," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 377-392, September.
    21. Maria Claudia Angel Ferrero & Véronique Bessière, 2016. "From Lab to Venture: Cognitive Factors Influencing Researchers' Decision to Start a Venture," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(02), pages 101-131, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:81:y:2017:i:c:p:1-10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.