Unveiling the Future of Creativity and Innovation Management in the era of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Introduction

We stand at the forefront of a technological revolution as the surge of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) redefines the boundaries of creativity and innovation (Larsen & Narayan, 2023). This revolutionary technology, with its capacity to generate new forms of content, has been steadily gaining traction due to its potentially disruptive impacts on various industries (Agrawal, Gans, & Goldfarb, 2022). Traditionally, certain human activities, particularly those involving creative processes, were deemed beyond the realm of automation. However, the introduction of tools like ChatGPT and similar AI models has fundamentally questioned this assumption (Burger et al., 2023). The influence of Gen-AI extends across an array of tasks and sectors, including but not limited to music creation, assistant writing, personalized recommendations, and algorithmic coding (Marr, 2023). These technologies are beginning to revolutionize industries worldwide, paving the way for innovative, human-AI hybrid business models, entirely new business ventures, and even the emergence of unique job roles such as prompt engineering (Wiles, 2023).

In this dynamic context, companies are learning to reimagine their innovation strategies, cultivate new skillsets, and embrace new technologies to ensure their survival and growth (Haefner et al., 2021; Bahoo et al., 2023). In sum, this evolving landscape has profoundly transformed the ways in which industries innovate and compete (Kakatkar, Bilgram, & Füller, 2020). Thus, the shift towards a more AI-integrated business environment demands the rethinking of traditional models and strategies, marking a significant transformation in the realm of innovation management (Mariani, Machado, & Nambisan, 2023). As such, it is an opportune time to delve into its impact on various facets of innovation across industries (Mariani et al., 2022).

This call for papers invites contributions that explore the multifaceted impacts of Gen-AI on creativity and innovation management. We aim to foster a comprehensive understanding of the changes driven by Gen-AI and its implications for future business practices and research, focusing on four main areas:

Gen-AI and Creativity

We welcome papers that critically examine the role of Gen-AI in the process of creativity and the development of novel ideas and solutions. By “creativity”, we refer to the generation of ideas, solutions, or products that are both novel and valuable. Gen-AI's potential to simulate and even enhance human creativity has profound implications for a myriad of industries. We encourage explorations of these implications from both a practical and theoretical standpoint. Research questions of interest include but are not limited to:

1. The Impact of Gen-AI on the Creative Process: How does Gen-AI impact the creative process within various industries? What changes does it bring about in the conception, development, and execution of creative ideas?
    
2. Gen-AI and the Generation of Creative Outputs: How does Gen-AI enable the generation of creative ideas, products, or services? What is the extent of Gen-AI's capabilities in terms of creating original, valuable content?
    
3. Gen-AI's Role in Transforming Creative Roles: What is the role of Gen-AI in transforming traditional creative roles and creating new ones? How does this impact the creative dynamics in organizations?
    
4. Gen-AI and Collaboration in Creative Processes: How does Gen-AI facilitate or hinder collaboration in creative teams or among creative individuals? What are the dynamics of human-AI collaboration in creative endeavors?
    
5. Ethics and Responsibility in Gen-AI-driven Creativity: What are the ethical considerations and responsibilities when using Gen-AI for creative purposes? What are the implications for issues such as authorship and intellectual property?
    
6. Gen-AI in Creative Education and Training: How can Gen-AI be utilized in the education and training of creative individuals? How might it impact the ways in which creativity is taught and nurtured?
    
7. Gen-AI and the Evaluation of Creativity: How does the introduction of Gen-AI impact the ways in which we evaluate and appreciate creativity? Does it shift our understanding of what constitutes 'good' or 'valuable' creative output?
    

Gen-AI and Innovation Management

We encourage submissions that explore how Gen-AI is integrated into the management of innovation, a key driver of economic growth and organizational success. Gen-AI has the potential to significantly alter innovation strategies and the very nature of competition. We are particularly interested in papers that investigate the interplay between Gen-AI and various aspects of innovation management, such as strategic planning, business model innovation, process enhancement, and the maintenance of competitive advantage.

Potential research questions include, but are not limited to:

1. The Role of Gen-AI in Novel Business Models and Innovation Strategy: How does GenAI contribute to the development of novel business models and the innovation strategy? What strategies are organizations using to incorporate Gen-AI into their innovation processes?
    
2. Gen-AI and the Innovation Process: What is the role of Gen-AI in managing and accelerating the innovation process? How does Gen-AI influence stages of the innovation process, from idea generation to implementation?
    
3. Gen-AI and Competitive Advantage: How do Gen-AI tools facilitate firms in maintaining a competitive advantage in the face of rapid digital transformation? What are the implications of Gen-AI for resource allocation and capability development?
    
4. Gen-AI and Organizational Structure: How does the integration of Gen-AI influence organizational structures and roles? How do organizations adapt their structures to maximize the potential of Gen-AI in the innovation process?
    
5. Gen-AI, Risk, and Uncertainty in Innovation Management: How does the integration of Gen-AI influence the perception and management of risk and uncertainty in innovation? What strategies can organizations adopt to manage these challenges?
    
6. Gen-AI and Collaborative Innovation: How does Gen-AI facilitate collaboration in innovation management? What is its role in promoting open innovation, crowd innovation, and other collaborative innovation models?
    
7. Gen-AI and Performance Measurement in Innovation Management: How does the use of Gen-AI influence the measurement and evaluation of innovation performance? What new metrics or indicators are necessary to capture the impact of Gen-AI on innovation?
    

The Intersection of Creativity and Innovation Management through Gen-AI

We welcome papers exploring the convergence of creativity and innovation management, focusing on how Gen-AI influences this intersection. Gen-AI can provide a platform for creativity and innovation to seamlessly integrate, potentially leading to a host of novel, groundbreaking ideas and approaches that could reshape industries and redefine competition. We encourage submissions that delve into the implications of this convergence for organizations, employees, and management.

Potential research questions might include, but are not limited to:

1. Integration of Creativity and Innovation Management through Gen-AI: How does GenAI facilitate the integration of creativity and innovation management processes? What unique strategies or methodologies have proven effective?
    
2. Opportunities and Challenges at the Intersection: What are the unique opportunities and challenges at the intersection of creativity, innovation management, and Gen-AI? How can these challenges be managed effectively?
    
3. Managerial Roles in Navigating Creativity and Innovation: How does Gen-AI impact the role of managers in navigating creativity and innovation processes together? What new skills and competences are required?
    
4. Gen-AI, Creativity, and Innovation Culture: How does Gen-AI influence organizational culture in terms of creativity and innovation? What are the implications for change management and organizational development?
    
5. Gen-AI in Fostering Creative and Innovative Collaboration: How does Gen-AI facilitate or hinder collaborative creativity and innovation processes? What are the best practices for fostering collaborative creativity and innovation through Gen-AI?
    
6. Gen-AI, Creativity, Innovation, and Value Creation: How do Gen-AI driven creative and innovative activities contribute to value creation for organizations and stakeholders? What new metrics might be needed to measure this value?
    
7. Ethical and Social Implications at the Intersection of Gen-AI, Creativity, and Innovation: What are the ethical and societal implications of integrating Gen-AI into creative and innovation processes? How can organizations ensure responsible and ethical use of GenAI in this intersection?
    

Ethics, Governance, and Skills Development in Gen-AI-enabled Creativity and Innovation Management

As Gen-AI continues to transform the fields of creativity and innovation, numerous ethical and governance challenges emerge. These include issues around privacy, security, data integrity, algorithmic bias, and transparency. Equally important is the development of skills necessary to effectively integrate and use Gen-AI tools in creativity and innovation processes. We invite contributions that tackle these crucial dimensions of Gen-AI use.

Potential research questions might include, but are not limited to:

1. Ethical Dilemmas in Gen-AI Applications: How to address ethical dilemmas related to GenAI applications in creativity and innovation? What are some of the ethical frameworks that can be applied?
    
2. Governance of Gen-AI for Responsible Innovation and Creativity: How can organizations govern Gen-AI to promote responsible innovation and creativity? What policies, procedures, and structures are needed?
    
3. Skills Development for Gen-AI Integration: What are the necessary skills for effectively integrating and using Gen-AI tools in creativity and innovation management? How can these skills be developed and nurtured?
    
4. Privacy and Security in Gen-AI Applications: How can privacy and security issues associated with the use of Gen-AI in creativity and innovation processes be mitigated?
    
5. Ensuring Transparency: What measures can ensure transparency in Gen-AI's role in creativity and innovation?
    
6. Gen-AI and Intellectual Property Rights: How do intellectual property rights apply to GenAI-generated content or ideas? What are the legal and ethical implications?
    
7. Impacts of Gen-AI on Equality and Inclusion in Creativity and Innovation Processes: How does the use of Gen-AI impact equality and inclusion in creativity and innovation processes? What measures can ensure that Gen-AI use does not inadvertently perpetuate or exacerbate existing disparities?
    

Submissions

Submissions must be original and must not be under consideration for publication or presentation elsewhere. Papers that are deemed suitable for publication in the special issue will be double-blind reviewed as per the EJIM's review process guidelines. The guest editors will base their final acceptance decisions on the relevance for the special issue, technical quality, innovative content, and originality of research approaches and results.

Papers should be submitted via the journal's online submission system available through the journal homepage. When submitting, please choose the special issue: "Unveiling the Future of Creativity and Innovation Management in the era of Generative Artificial Intelligence" as the article type from the drop-down menu.

All papers must follow the guidelines outlined by the journal for submission. For any inquiries pertaining to this special issue, please contact the guest editor: [email protected]

Full paper submission: 28th April 2024