How can academics generate great research ideas? Inspiration from ideation practice

Abstract

How can academic scholars come up with great ideas, such that their research becomes even more important, relevant, and interesting? Based on ideation practices of sophisticated companies, this paper triggers academic researchers to self-reflect on: (1) the source used for ideation, (2) the scope applied to ideation, (3) the sharing of ideas during ideation, and (4) the selection of ideas. The paper also offers concrete improvements that researchers can implement in their ideation practices on ideation processes, tools, and methods along three ideation phases: domain exploration, domain immersion, and research project design. It reviews recent advances in AI and how researchers can leverage AI in their research ideation. The paper aims to stimulate more research on (academic) research ideation (i.e., “more research on research”) and advances a research agenda.