Co-creating Through Win and Quick: the Role of Type of Contest and Constraints on Creativity

Abstract

Previous literature has highlighted that open innovation contests are important innovation tools for companies that wish to involve users in the product development process to generate creative ideas. Contests can have different characteristics, but it is not clear which formats allow companies to obtain the most creative suggestions from their customers. In this article, we hypothesize that evaluative (vs. luck-based) open innovation contests lead to the generation of more creative products, but only in presence of time constraints. In addition, we hypothesize that design variety mediates this effect. The results of an experimental study, based on a customization toolkit, provide support for our theoretical framework. Our research contributes to the literature on open innovation contests by identifying the ideal conditions to stimulate consumer creativity and offers a series of managerial implications on contest design.