Team Selection of Creative Ideas and its Implications for Team Creativity

Current theories of how team creativity emerges do not convincingly explain practices whereby creative ideas are selected. We consider idea selection as a critical mechanism, which significantly impacts team’s creativity. We propose that idea selection may provide an effective alternative to the two well-known creativity phases on which the extent literature has focused (i.e. idea generation and idea implementation phases), particularly to solve the current puzzles in the literature on idea diversity and team cognitive diversity. We specify four archetypes of team selection of creative ideas and the environmental conditions that affect such team selection modes. We elaborate implications of such selection strategies for the team creative outcomes and creativity theory.