How experts screen ideas: The complex interplay of intuition, analysis and sensemaking

Abstract

Organizations use idea screening to select which ideas will be developed into innovation projects. Extant research has revealed that, during idea screening, expert evaluators use intuition to make rapid holistic decisions about idea quality, analyze ideas in detail to determine their value and employ sensemaking to understand and elaborate on ideas. However, much of this takes place in the minds of the evaluators, which limits our understanding of how experts identify good ideas. This study addresses the issue by mapping the activities that expert evaluators use to screen ideas and by examining how these activities are used to identify high quality ideas. To study this, 204 idea screening cases were collected, using the think aloud method on two samples of experts. The data was analyzed using grounded theory techniques to outline the range of idea screening activities that expert evaluators use and then complemented with fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to understand how these activities are combined together to make judgments of idea quality. The findings break down intuition, analysis, and sensemaking into seven key activities that experts use when screening ideas and detail their dimensions on the micro‐level. The fsQCA further shows that experts combine these activities into distinct patterns in order to find high quality ideas, where sensemaking plays a crucial role. This demonstrates that finding high quality ideas often requires effortful interpretation, while also generating opportunities to develop ideas further. These findings add depth to our understanding of how evaluators think when screening ideas, suggesting that expert evaluators can be used for both the screening and development of ideas during the idea screening stage. Integrating idea development into screening can potentially lead to the more effective use of resources, while saving time at the front‐end of innovation.

The Innovation System Roadmap: A novel approach to instil futures‐oriented reasoning in strategic decision making

“…The focus is on hypothesizing the future utility and value of the idea at hand rather than converging solely on what is presented at the time of decision making (Berg, 2016;Buehring & Liedtka, 2018;Dew, 2007;Dong et al, 2015;Dorst, 2011;Ensici et al, 2008;Finke et al, 1992;Johnson & Suskewicz, 2020;Kolko, 2010;Miller, 2007Miller, , 2018Miller et al, 2018;Poli, 2019aPoli, , 2019bScoblic, 2020;Vettorello et al, 2019;Walton, 2014;Ward, 2007). Sukhov et al (2021) suggest that decision making at the FFE demands an awareness that markets are exposed to shifts and technological developments. This means innovation managers need to react to the market changes flexibly; for example, in cases where the market in which a solution is likely to enter is far in the future, likely to change and yet unknown to the innovation manager at the time of the decision.…”

“…Research indicates that advancing decision‐making strategy at the fuzzy front end (FFE) of a new product development (NPD) can highly benefit in fostering innovation and choosing promising ideas while weeding out others (Dziallas, 2020; Gassmann & Schweitzer, 2014; Kim & Wilemon, 2002; Koen et al, 2001; Leonard‐Barton, 1992; Nicholas et al, 2015; Reid & De Brentani, 2004; Sukhov et al, 2021; Zhang & Doll, 2001). The FFE is important.…”

“…Sukhov et al (2021) suggest that decision making at the FFE demands an awareness that markets are exposed to shifts and technological developments. This means innovation managers need to react to the market changes flexibly; for example, in cases where the market in which a solution is likely to enter is far in the future, likely to change and yet unknown to the innovation manager at the time of the decision.…”

“…The FFE is important. It sets an organization up to create future value through effective idea selection, aligns with an organization's growth strategy and drives product success through effective resource allocation (Sukhov et al, 2021).…”

“…selection, aligns with an organization's growth strategy and drives product success through effective resource allocation (Sukhov et al, 2021).…”