Fair-weather folks or team players? The effects of idea rejection on fairness and implementation efforts
Open Access
Author:
Nguyen, Tin
Graduate Program:
Psychology
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
September 13, 2019
Committee Members:
Samuel Todd Hunter, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Susan Mohammed, Committee Member Roger Beaty, Committee Member Melvin Michael Mark, Program Head/Chair
Keywords:
idea rejection innovation creativity decision maker fairness gatekeeping effort idea generation idea implementation innovation process
Abstract:
Innovation research often places a premium on idea generation. Successful innovation, however, also requires that decision makers choose the most creative ideas and that those ideas are implemented effectively, neither of which are guaranteed. The present study explores the transition from ideation to implementation—specifically, how do the selection and rejection of ideas affect people’s fairness perceptions and implementation efforts? To answer this broader research question, I hypothesized and tested theoretical models based on fairness and expectancy theories of motivation. The results of this laboratory experiment indicated that people rated decision-making outcomes as more fair when their ideas were selected (vs. rejected) and when they perceived the selected idea as highly creative. Further, condition (i.e., idea selection vs. rejection) and the selected idea’s creativity affected whether people expended similar effort across ideation and implementation. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
