Autonomous inventions, problem formulation, and inventive outcomes

Prior research on creativity by R&D teams has highlighted that autonomy in deciding how to solve a given problem (operational autonomy) positively influences creativity. However, R&D teams may also have autonomy in choosing which problems to address (strategic autonomy), the effects of which remain underexplored. This study examines how strategic autonomy influences the cognitive process of problem representation and in turn, the creativity of inventions produced by R&D teams. Leveraging a unique dataset consisting of descriptions of problems in invention disclosures by R&D professionals of a firm, along with information on whether an invention was autonomously initiated, we find that problem representation complexity is lower for autonomous inventions, or inventions for which R&D teams exert strategic autonomy to identify problems themselves, than top-down inventions for which problems are identified and assigned to them by managers. We further find that domain expertise and multi-project engagement of team members moderate this relationship, and that lower problem representation complexity in turn relates to lower creativity of inventions. By uncovering a novel mechanism through which autonomy negatively affects creativity, this study contributes to the literatures on creativity, innovation, and organizational design. • Strategic autonomy to choose which problems to pursue shapes how R&D teams represent technological problems • Autonomous inventions, where R&D teams pick problems, exhibit less complex problem representations than top-down ones • Domain expertise and multi-project engagement by team members attenuate this negative association • Problem representation complexity mediates the negative association between autonomous inventions and creativity