What is it about?
Both knowledge and metaphors are recognized as sources of new knowledge. Yet, the two facilitate the creation of new knowledge toward different directions. Existing knowledge produces a gravitational pull, which keeps new knowledge close. A metaphor instead can bring new knowledge far, as if it made it jump to a different dimension. Yes, like a quantum leap! But it is not so easy. Knowledge is cumulative: existing knowledge is necessary to create new one. So, how to reconcile such paradox? How to create far from the existing knowledge? This work illustrates the conditions in which metaphors can bring new knowledge far and for how long such a type of creation is sustainable.
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Why is it important?
We define three rules to predict the generative effects of metaphors based on the knowledge of the members who are engaged in the creative process, and on the endowment of other metaphors.
Perspectives
Personally, I loved giving a shape to this work. It made me learn so much about the topic and how to turn a blank page alive! And I truly hope the reader will be enthralled. The many discussions with my coauthor gave me the clarity that was necessary to render a very abstract theory as concrete and predictive as possible. I hope therefore that the community of scientists will find in this article a stimulus for testing our propositions. As much as we need metaphors, we really need to understand what makes them useful, and how to extract the most out of them.
Dr Claudio Biscaro
Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Knowledge Creation Across Worldviews: How Metaphors Impact and Orient Group Creativity, Organization Science, December 2017, INFORMS,
DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2017.1163.
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