Events

Prof. Vijaya Venkataramani
Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Innovation
Robert H. Smith School of Business
University of Maryland

Novel ideas often do not receive positive assessments from decision-makers and, therefore, lose the opportunity to be implemented. Drawing on optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT; Brewer, 1991; Zuckerman, 2016), we propose that ideas need to be optimally distinct in order to secure support and endorsement from decision-makers. Specifically, rather than treat novelty as a monolithic construct, we identify idea functionality and design/form as distinct dimensions of novelty and argue that novelty in functionality needs to be optimally balanced with familiarity in form. We further propose that this strategy of balancing functional novelty with design familiarity is more necessary when idea creators lack legitimacy; when creators have greater legitimacy, this gives them greater leverage in selling ideas that are novel in functional as well as form. We find support for these ideas in an experimental study as well as an archival study using data scraped from Kickstarter. Both studies highlight the mediating role of perceived idea usefulness in affecting decision-makers’ willingness to support and implement these novel ideas.