The Colour of Hierarchy: A field experiment on hierarchical endorsements and idea selection

In the early stages of the idea creation process, individuals often turn to other members within the organization to help them select which ideas merit further development. Critical to this decision is receiving endorsement on the value of ideas from relevant others. We suggest the hierarchical position of these endorsements shapes idea selection, as these endorsements are interpreted by the idea creators as a signal of competence and of future support. We test this conjecture using a field experiment at a major European University organization, where information about the hierarchical endorsement on ideas is exposed and withheld to a randomly assigned treatment and control group involved in an ideation process. We find that hierarchical endorsement has a positive effect on idea selection for those high in the hierarchy of the organization, but little or no effect on those individuals in more low-level positions. Furthermore, we find that hierarchical endorsements mainly reinforce initial quality perceptions of idea creators, rather than that they shift selection towards other ideas. We explore these findings for our understanding of the role of hierarchy in the idea creation processes.