Employee Innovation Using Ideation Contests: Seven-Step Process to Align Strategic Challenges with the Innovation Process

Researchers and practitioners have shown great interest in crowdsourcing for problem solving. Although scholars have developed several conceptual frameworks that outline the fundamentals of crowdsourcing, few studies provide a detailed process to successfully implement it. Our results from a multiple case study comprising four major Spanish organizations that have implemented ideation contests—Madrid City Hall, Sabadell Bank, Endesa, and Repsol Group—show how internal ideation contests can foster a culture of innovation in which employees can feel accomplished and receive recognition by presenting new ideas and innovative possibilities. We present a seven-step process that describes the key analytical and decision-making components required to lead the design and rollout of internal ideation contests for which the goals are to align strategic challenges with the innovation process.