Problem Solving is a key aspect for sustainable corporate success. Especially in recent times, solution inputs from beyond corporate boundaries are highly innovative and frequently superior to internal ideas. Yet, these open innovation initiatives are complex and underpinning rationales little understood. Corporations engage in external idea sourcing, but their initiatives lack the attraction of participants and result in low idea quality.

We target these challenges and introduce a novel mechanism to increase activity and solution value by arguing that the formulation of the problem opens multifold ways to higher success. Testing our hypothesis with a large field experiment involving more than 30000 participants and drawing on theories of individual cognition, we find strong and significant support.

Depending on small changes of the task formulation every corporation can do, and keeping the base formulation constant, voluntarily participation doubles and the likelihood in obtaining top ideas triples. However, in combining stimulating formulations, solution seekers tap into a ‘too much of a good think’ effect. Our study contributes to key theories of competitive advantage and holds important implications for managers to increase problem solving and boost innovation.