Let the computer evaluate your idea: evaluation apprehension in human-computer collaboration

Abstract

Individuals tend to hold back their ideas because they feel concerned about being evaluated. This leads to the untapped creative potential for organisations that depend on the creative abilities and ideas of their employees, as idea evaluation is essential for further developing and assessing creative ideas that inhibit the potential to turn into innovative products or services. In my research, I propose the use of AI-based computer systems for idea evaluation to address evaluation apprehension. With the help of an experiment (n = 228), I test whether individuals feel concerned about evaluation when a computer evaluates their idea. The results show that people do not feel evaluation apprehension when they present their idea to an AI-based system, but in contrast, feel concerned when they present their idea to a human. These findings contribute to the theory of evaluation apprehension but also to theories of human-computer collaboration and hold potential for companies to increase their creative outcome.