Polymathy: the foundational source of creativity and innovation

In an era of mounting complexity and a growing need to transcend siloed thinking, this dissertation advances polymathy as a critical yet underexplored construct in the management and behavioral sciences. Polymathy is framed as an expansive approach to the pursuit, development, and application of knowledge, marked by the conjunction of breadth, depth, and integration. Building on a thought lineage that stretches from Ancient Greece through the Renaissance to the present day, this work shows that polymathy is neither a relic of the past nor an achievement reserved for a few—but a mode of being, thinking, and acting in the world with increasing relevance for today’s challenges. A central contribution is the development and validation of the Polymathic Orientation (PO) Scale, the first psychometrically robust instrument to measure polymathy as a personal disposition—capturing whether individuals value, prefer, and habitually pursue breadth, depth, and integration. The dissertation also advances theorizing through the Developmental Model of Polymathy (DMP), which traces the path from orientation to knowledgebase and creation, and develops twenty propositions linking polymathy to important phenomena, including creativity, innovation, decision-making, and career and leadership preferences. Empirically, the dissertation demonstrates that polymathic orientation predicts creativity across the four stages of the innovation process—idea generation, development, championing, and implementation—beyond the effects of established traits like Openness to Experience. By surfacing both the promise and the challenges of polymathy, this dissertation contributes a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of human inquiry and its implications for creativity, innovation, leadership, and the flourishing of individuals and organizations.