The Homerun Hypothesis: Influencing the Boundaries of Knowledge

We argue that the creation of new knowledge is both difficult and rare. More specifically, we posit that the creation of new knowledge is dominated by a few key insights that challenge the way people think about an idea; generating high interest and use. We label this the homerun hypothesis. Using a sample of 2,012 published management studies we find support for the homerun hypothesis. Our evidence suggests that new knowledge creation is rare...