Towards the science of managing for innovation: conclusion & future research directions

We initiated this series with a view to catalyse and extend the focus on conceptualisation and application of behavioural science methods for managing innovation, albeit from a whole human perspective. We started with the notion that how to increase individual (human) creativity, collaboration productivity and innovativeness in innovation projects is a common concern for most firms. After discussions on the brain-mind-behaviour triad in the beginning, the interim editorial highlighted behavioural experiments as one plausible method to further the science of managing for innovation. In this final piece on the series, we conclude with a caveat on using experimental methods in examining the human side of innovation (Salampasis and Mention 2017) and discuss avenues for future research in innovation management, which increasingly reflects a collaborative affair (Bogers et al., 2017; Heil and Bornemann 2018). (...)