Background

In today's business world, creativity has become one of the most important success factors (Florida, 2002). The understanding of "organizational creativity as the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system" (Woodman et al., 1993) is vital for the innovation process of a company and serves as a mainspring especially at the early beginning of an innovation (Bilgram et al., 2008). Innovation as the practical application of created ideas in turn is a critical success factor for a company's competitive advantage and long-term success.

Creativity has been studied across several disciplines including psychology, social sciences, economics, education and the arts. However, a homogenous definition and classification of the term creativity has often been neglected (Plucker & Beghetto, 2004; Puccio & Cabra, 2012; Simonton, 2013). Moreover, creativity has been recognized as not manageable for a long time. Therefore, studies on creativity have looked at factors that "can manage for creativity" (Amabile & Mukti, 2008) such as leadership competencies or a working environment that positively influences and supports or hampers creative processes in an organization. A further shortcoming of creativity research has been that it has traditionally distinguished between two generic types of creativity. The everyday creativity inherent in the average person (e.g., Richards, 2007) and the creative genius, associated with famous talents in certain fields (e.g., Simonton, 1997). Especially in the context of business and management literature, there is still need for further research to demystify creativity as being a natural force without control, and to elaborate its role within the management of innovation.

Hence, the question arises how this multifaceted and interdisciplinary topic of creativity can be included in innovation management, which is the focus of this Special Issue.

Subject coverage

In this context, theoretical and conceptual papers on creativity in innovation management from different disciplines are welcome. Interdisciplinary research is as well encouraged. Empirical studies that feature examples and results of creativity in innovation management are encouraged, as well as papers on success factors and risks. Comparative studies that examine similarities and differences between different sectors and countries are also welcome.

Suggested topics for this special issue are:

Definition and measurement of creativity
Integration in the Front End of Innovation
Insights into creative processes and creative cognition
Levers on creative thinking during ideation
Creativity along the innovation process
Linkage of creativity with prototyping and manufacturing
Business Model Innovation and Creativity
Management of networks for creativity
Incentivation for creativity
Research on creativity techniques
Use of collaboration tools for creativity
Role of innovation culture on creative processes
Boundaries of creativity and design
Individual and (interdisciplinary) team creativity
Similarities/differences between facilitating creativity and innovation
Moreover, studies on country comparisons influence of industry and firm size as well as gender-related differences are in the scope of this Call for Papers.
Notes for prospective authors

Submitted papers must not have been previously published or be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers will be refereed by an international Special Issue Editorial Board through a double-blind peer review process. Please submit papers to brem@mci.sdu.dk

A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information is available at http://www.worldscinet.com/ijim

In addition, selected articles will be invited being released in a book published by Imperial College Press.

Important Dates



Submission of manuscripts: April 1, 2015
Notification to authors: July 15, 2015
Revisions due: August 15, 2015
Second round decisions: October 15, 2015
Revisions due: November 15, 2015
Final Editorial Decision: December 15, 2015
Journal publication: Spring 2016