The effects of naming novel green technologies on creativity and ideas for innovation

Abstract<br/>Organic solar cells (OSCs) are flexible, lightweight, and eco-friendly organic photovoltaics that convert sunlight into electricity (Kiran et al., 2022). While OSCs can significantly reduce carbon emissions, their commercialization and adoption rates have been slow (Van Der Staaij et al., 2021). The aim of this research is to investigate whether renaming (and hence, reframing) OSCs would accelerate their adoption. Our hypothesis is that reframing would lead to more positive associations and would allow people to compare them less to silicon-based solar panels and focus more on their strengths. Thus, an online study with nine conditions, each with a different proposed name, was conducted. The nine name combinations included (Light harvester …, Organic solar …, Solar power …) x (… sticker, … foil, … cell). Participants (N=293) were pseudo-randomly assigned to a condition and were instructed to complete a two-part creativity task (called Visual Synectics): brainstorm ideas related to the product name (Part 1) and develop products based on the ideas (Part 2). Creativity analysis (Guilford 1967) shows that the names organic solar foil and light harvester sticker seem to be difficult to imagine, while solar power cell and light harvester foil were effective in fueling imagination. Additionally, thematic analysis shows that each name combination brings about different associations: (a) ‘Light harvester’ names brought about associations with agriculture, (b) ‘Organic solar’ created links this to eco-friendliness, and (c) Solar power generated associations with solar panels and renewable energy. Furthermore, the words foil, sticker, and cell affect participants’ perceptions of the product’s size, weight, and use cases. It can be concluded that different framing strategies can activate different associations in the readers’ minds. This is especially important because different associations might affect the relevance and value of the product and hence its adoption. <br/>Key words: Organic solar cells (OSC), Organic photovoltaics (OPV), framing, innovation