Thematic Ideation: A Superior Supplementary Concept in Creativity and Innovation

• Main Authors: Rakhshan Ummar, Sharjeel Saleem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-08-01
• Series: SAGE Open
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020947429

New products improve competitiveness through their creativity and innovativeness. Creativity and innovativeness are parallel yet non-identical concepts; newly introduced products are either somewhat thematically similar or taxonomically similar to the existing products. There is a need for the explication of creativity and innovativeness as separate or as unified concepts in newly developed products, in particular, thematic products. A mixed-method design was adopted to establish definitions and components of creativity and innovativeness in the ideas presented at the innovation summit through 489 perceptual reports on 14 feature-based and theme-based product ideas. On the whole, three components—originality, value, and commercial appeal—were derived and tested. Results revealed the significance of originality as a major component of creativity and innovativeness in all products. Perceived value was significantly related to originality in both taxonomic and thematic products. Originality and value predicted creativity whereas innovativeness was predicted by commercial appeal along with originality and value in all products. The underlying purchase intention in taxonomic and thematic product ideas was the product’s relatedness with lifestyle. A product idea to be implemented in business as innovation was found to be dependent on its creativity and commercial appeal. This asserted three factors mandatory at the Fuzzy Front End (FFE), namely, originality, value, and commercial appeal. Discussion includes the interpretation of results and future directions.