Introduction deas matter for innovation. Thus, large firms–such as Allianz, Ericsson, DHL,
GE, and Shell–use idea management programs to fertilize, capture, mature, evaluate, and
manage ideas from internal sources to intro-duce innovation (Fairbank and Williams, 2001;
Frese, Teng, and Wijnen, 1999; Van Dijk and Van Den Ende, 2002). Senior researchers
ensconced in their labs devel-oping new technologies, middle and product managers in
production facilities, and employees undertaking administrative tasks–for example …