Title: The price of admission: Examining how expectancies and values can overcome innovation's costs

Abstract

This study examines the expectancies, values, and costs that are involved in motivating current Canadian innovators. While much of the innovation literature is dominated by studies from the business literature, this study adopts an interdisciplinary approach that expands the scope of innovation to reflect a more diverse perspective encompassing radical and incremental innovators that generate social and/or economic wealth. Through the lens of Expectancy-Value Theory, this study will ask existing Canadian innovators about their experiences and perceptions of innovation to identify their implicitly and explicitly held motivations through interviews. 30 existing Canadian innovators selected from a variety of disciplines including applied and basic science (n=6), business (n=6), social and community organizing (n=6), education and scholastics (n=6), and artists/humanities (n=6) will inform the development and administration of an inventory administered to 500 existing innovators that will expand and nuance the findings of the interviews. The resultant consolidation of findings will identify the factors supporting innovation among existing Canadian innovators and would inform the design of learning environments that support innovation education for all students.