Approaches To Generating Ideas For Research And Publication: Insights From Conversations With The "Elite" Of Finance

This paper reports the findings of interviews conducted with 18 of the most cited and prolific finance authors. Each author shared his personal experiences on the process of generating research ideas, including providing numerous illustrative vignettes. A content analysis of the interviews resulted in a model that provides a way to examine the structure of the idea generation process. Insights by interviewees go beyond general suggestions typically reported in survey-based studies on the topic. The model and insights should be a useful reference for other authors, as well as for guiding students in their quest for ideas and topics.