The Application and Impact of Creativity Techniques in Innovation Management

Creativity techniques are procedures and heuristics for enhancing creativity in the idea generation process. So far, empirical studies on creativity techniques in business practice are scarce. The present study is one of the first to interview innovation experts, 68 in number, concerning their creativity technique application behavior. We reveal that creativity techniques are far away from being systematically applied and integrated in innovation management. Brainstorming is, against all empirical findings on its disadvantages, still the most commonly used technique. The application of electronic techniques is rare. However, in almost all projects investigated, creativity techniques positively affect idea generation. Furthermore, we show that the selection of a creativity technique is mainly influenced by a technique's prominence, practicability and time exposure. Prospectively, the interviewees predict an increasing use of creativity techniques