Domain Expertise and Creative Ideation: A Theoretical Exploration

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical model examining how diverse profiles of domain expertise influence the creative ideation process, with significanteconomic implications. Expertise is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct defined by both depth and breadth across several knowledge domains. Weanalyze how these dimensions affect the novelty and feasibility of generated ideas by modeling the ideation process as the associative combination of pre-acquiredknowledge units. The framework derived herein quantifies expected idea quality while revealing trade-offs between idea quantity and quality. This theoretical exploration provides insights into human capital allocation, innovation policy, and organizational strategy, underscoring the critical role of diverse expertise in driving economic growth and creative breakthroughs.