Not all success is created equal: The innovation costs of extreme success

Corporate ideation systems are increasingly used to harness employee creativity for innovation. Within these systems, serial ideators play a central role by consistently supplying new ideas. While prior research has emphasized the benefits of past success in fostering future innovation, it often treats all successes as functionally equivalent. In this study, we adopt a more nuanced perspective by distinguishing between ordinary and extreme success, and theorize that extreme success, but not ordinary success, undermines innovation outcomes. Drawing on a four-year archival dataset encompassing 1145 ideas submitted by 236 serial ideators within the internal ideation system of a global automotive firm, we find that past extreme success significantly reduces the likelihood of subsequent idea implementation. We further demonstrate that this effect is driven by two mediating mechanisms: (i) reduced team idea development and (ii) inflated self-perceived social status. In two follow-up experiments, we provide causal evidence that extreme success influences the two mediators. Together, our research advances prior work by conceptually and empirically distinguishing between ordinary and extreme success in ideation systems and uncovering the specific mechanisms through which extreme success, unlike ordinary success, can hinder subsequent innovation outcomes. We discuss several implications for managers seeking to foster sustained employee creativity and innovation through digital ideation. • Extreme success—unlike ordinary success—is negatively associated with subsequent idea implementation through two main mechanisms. • Extreme success reduces the likelihood of ideators developing ideas in a team, which in turn is associated with lower idea implementation. • Extreme success increases an ideator's perceived social status, which in turn is associated with lower idea implementation.