Start with“Why,”but only if you have to: Thestrategic framing of novel ideas across differentaudiences
One of the critical challengesthat innovators (e.g., entrepreneurs) face is to persuaderelevant audiences (e.g., users, crowdfunders, profes-sional investors, and innovation managers) to supporttheir novel ideas. This article integrates various litera-tures concerned with the evaluation of novelty toexamine the impact of different framing strategies onthe reception of novel ideas by different audiences. Bydemonstrating that the framing of a novel business idea affects audience members’ evaluation, and that the effec-tiveness of different frames (whyvs.how) varies with thetarget audiences (novices vs. experts), we offer actionableinsights into how innovators can strategically use linguis-tic framing to increase the likelihood of eliciting favorableevaluations and resource commitment for their ideas.
