Facilitating methods of entrepreneurial Idea generation: A literature review

Idea generation is considered as a core to entrepreneurship, but it has not been researched enough compared to other related phases, nor has its facilitation stage been studied adequately. The purpose of this study is to search and studies the methods that lead to facilitating entrepreneurial ideation. We did conduct a comprehensive systematic literature review over previous researches that has been indexed in Scopus database. Following a screening of 111 related documents, we found 42 related journal papers to be studied by thematic analysis approach. The results indicate that the methods were grouped into 7 categories and 39 sub-categories. The main categories include: Education, Networking, Practical Experiences, Performing Projects, Communicating Facilitators, Challenges and Mind Stimulating Techniques. These methods affect ideas quantity and quality through cognitive and behavioral changes. As the studies in the field are not integrated and structured, a spectrum from cognitive to behavioral methods is defined as the contribution of this research. Future researches are required to test each method and combinations of them and their effects on ideation skills and results.