Ideation – definition and explanation

Ideation – the basis of creativity.

Ideation is the process of coming up with or creating new ideas or concepts.

Previous research has identified four factors that underpin ideation:

1. Motivation or effort
2. General human capital or knowledge
3. Specific human capital or the ability to accurately evaluate ideas, and
4. Imagination or the ability to innovate, be creative and generate new and novel ideas.

References

Isaksen, S. G., Dorval, K. B., & Treffinger, D. J. (2011). Creative approaches to problem solving. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

McMullen, J. S., & Kier, A. S. (2017). You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial: The unique role of imaginativeness in new venture ideation. Business Horizons, 60(4), 455-462.