The Essence of Novelty

Novelty is a rich and multifaceted concept that sits at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and human cognition. In this article, we provide a comprehensive examination of novelty, drawing on definitions from multiple disciplines and illustrating core dimensions such as newness, risk, originality, distance, variety, and diversity. We examine how novelty relates to other constructs such as risk, surprise, delight, interestingness, frequency, difference, similarity, and feasibility. This articleaims to serve as a conceptual foundation for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in examining novelty in contexts ranging from organizational innovation to the creative arts.