New Idea Generation and Individual Motivation: A conceptual framework

The adoption of specific idea management programs is becoming a strategic asset for organizations as they are increasingly trying to adopt specific organizational solutions to detect, fertilize, evaluate and promote new idea generation within and across their boundaries. The centrality of the ideas generation is linked to its vital characteristic of being the main source for new products, services, processes, and drivers of change. This papers copes with the controversial role of the general organizational setting and closely focuses on the rewards mechanisms that could further nurture creativity. By formulating a set of propositions, the paper submits that the understanding of the motivational drivers and the organizational settings is paramount to distill the links between idea generation and incentive structures. This paper aims also to critically analyze and assess the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on idea generation both at an individual and team level, and develop a framework within which explore the necessary change to be adopted by firms in managing the idea generation. What is new to the field is the recognition of the impact of the individual locus of control on creative performance. In this vein the paper sees its ultimate aim in uncovering the dynamics of individual and collective motivation related to creativity, considered as the main source for innovation. The paper concludes that new ideas could be nurtured through the adoption of routine system aligned with the companies human resource management policy.