Article: Thursday, 17 July 2025
It probably sounds normal to let someone who has expertise as well as the responsibility for being the decision maker to choose the novel ideas that would take the business forward – right? But there’s no consistent evidence for this route being the best, which is why researchers have been keen to separate the effect of expertise from the decision-maker role. The research was done by Professors Dirk Deichmann and Daan Stam of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and Dr Michela Beretta and Prof. Lars Frederiksen of Aarhus University. Their work has been published in the academic journal Research Policy in the article Do you see what I see? How expertise and a decision-maker role influence the recognition and selection of novel ideas.
The researchers found that having expertise is good for recognising novel ideas, but being a decision maker means your options for choosing a novel idea are constrained by responsibility – in fact the effects of expertise decrease if you have the role of decision maker. Novel ideas are less likely to be selected, and that means less creativity for societal transformations.
Choosing and deciding are two different things
In the first of two studies, they examined how 139 individuals of varying levels of expertise recognise novel ideas and whether or not they select them. The participants were asked to evaluate scholarly ideas, some new, some not new. Then a second study of archival data looked at a two-stage idea evaluation process in a large European company over the course of 11 months to test the effects of expertise when it’s combined with the role of decision maker for selecting novel ideas in an organisational setting.
The researchers found that:
Expertise helps individuals to recognise and select novel ideas
Evaluators who hold a decision-maker role pay more attention to external uncertainties and potential risks and are less willing to select novel ideas
Experts who are also appointed to a decision-maker role when evaluating ideas lose their advantage in selecting novel ideas. This tension between deep knowledge and the weight and responsibility of a decision-making role may influence which ideas get recognised and chosen in innovation processes.
In short: when decision-maker roles are assigned to experts, the novel ideas are less likely to be selected because the responsibility of being a decision maker undermines their appreciation and openness towards these ideas. New ideas might not be making their way into the business because of this effect, and businesses might need a better way of organising the process for evaluating ideas so that novel ideas are favoured.
The researchers suggest that organisations should consider revamping their processes for evaluating ideas. For instance, start by asking experts with limited decision-making responsibility to assess and describe the novelty of ideas – in other words, help recognise novel ideas – because they are better equipped to manage the built-in uncertainty typically associated with novel ideas. Then use these initial assessments to make the final selection.
“Creative ideas are very much needed for societal transformations – the sort that score highly on novelty and usefulness. Novelty is particularly important because it fuels breakthrough innovations, but it’s very difficult for people to recognise and select novel ideas. Our study provides insights into this important process and shows who should be involved in those evaluation processes to facilitate the recognition and selection of novel ideas,” commented Prof. Dirk Deichmann.
Read the published research paper in Research Policy: Do you see what I see? How expertise and a decision-maker role influence the recognition and selection of novel ideas
Science Communication and Media Officer
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers.
