Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2022
  • Article
  • Knowledge Management Research and Practice

Is Maximising Creativity Good? The Importance of Elaboration and Internal Confidence in Producing Creative Ideas

By: Goran Calic, Elaine Mosakowski, Nick Bontis and Sébastien Hélie
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:16
ShareBar

Abstract

While knowledge management researchers acknowledge that individuals transition from generation to implementation of ideas, these transitions are not fully understood. The current article focuses on idea elaboration – defined as the transition of an idea from an individual’s mind to one that is expressed in a work context – as a critical step towards creative output – the number of creative ideas an individual generates.
Several related hypotheses were explored with a psychologically realistic simulation of creativity. A total of 100,000 trials of the creativity task was simulated to examine the relationship between creativity and creative output.
Results suggest that low degrees of creativity combined with the elaboration of conventional ideas may lead to a greater number of creative ideas.
The current article contributes to the field of knowledge management by leveraging the dynamics of cognition and stressing the importance of idea elaboration and the role that internal confidence plays.

Keywords

Knowledge Management; Organizational Culture; Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Innovation and Invention; Learning

Citation

Calic, Goran, Elaine Mosakowski, Nick Bontis, and Sébastien Hélie. "Is Maximising Creativity Good? The Importance of Elaboration and Internal Confidence in Producing Creative Ideas." Knowledge Management Research and Practice 20, no. 5 (2022): 776–791.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Register to Read

More from the Authors

    • February 2025
    • Strategic Management Journal

    Seeing the Whole: Configurational Cognition and New Venture Resource Mobilization

    By: Goran Calic, François Neville, Santi Furnari and C. S. Richard Chan
    • December 5, 2024
    • PLoS ONE

    A Consensus Definition of Creativity in Surgery: A Delphi Study Protocol

    By: Alex Thabane, Tyler McKechnie, Phillip Staibano, Vikram Arora, Goran Calic, Jason W. Busse, Sameer Parpia and Mohit Bhandari
    • October 10, 2024
    • PLoS ONE

    Characteristics of Creative Individuals: An Umbrella Review Protocol

    By: Alex Thabane, Tyler McKechnie, Phillip Staibano, Goran Calic, Colin Kruse, Jason W. Busse, Samee Parpia and Mohit Bhandari
More from the Authors
  • Seeing the Whole: Configurational Cognition and New Venture Resource Mobilization By: Goran Calic, François Neville, Santi Furnari and C. S. Richard Chan
  • A Consensus Definition of Creativity in Surgery: A Delphi Study Protocol By: Alex Thabane, Tyler McKechnie, Phillip Staibano, Vikram Arora, Goran Calic, Jason W. Busse, Sameer Parpia and Mohit Bhandari
  • Characteristics of Creative Individuals: An Umbrella Review Protocol By: Alex Thabane, Tyler McKechnie, Phillip Staibano, Goran Calic, Colin Kruse, Jason W. Busse, Samee Parpia and Mohit Bhandari
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.