Technologies often support more possibilities than their designers originally intended. My research examines why some of these possibilities are discovered while others remain unseen. I study both the attributes of products and technologies and the ways people search, frame problems, develop solutions, and respond to unexpected obstacles.
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Papers
1. Designing for unanticipated uses: How product attributes shape community-led exaptation. Shi-Ying Lim & Tian Heong Chan, Strategic Management Journal, 2026 [Link]
How do product attributes shape users' discovery of new functions versus new functionalities?
This study shows that different product attributes facilitate different forms of exaptation. Modularity increases the likelihood of new functions, while visual simplicity increases the likelihood of new functionalities. Compatibility across product ranges and aesthetic variants further shape these relationships.
 
2. The Emergence of Novel Product Uses: An Investigation of Exaptations in IKEA Hacks. Tian Heong Chan & Shi-Ying Lim,  Management Science, 2023  [Link]
How does product-first, compared with problem-first, search affect the occurrence of exaptations?
This study shows that users beginning from a defined problem are more likely to discover novel functionalities than those beginning from a product. Experience and product modularity mitigate this difference through different mechanisms.
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Other work in progress
3. User Innovators’ Creative Problem-Solving Journeys: How Abstraction and Iteration in Problem Solution Spaces Generate Novelty. Shi-Ying Lim & Tian Heong Chan, Working paper [Link] 
What types of triggers and problem-solving journeys best facilitate the generation of novelty?
This study conceptualizes creative problem solving as movement through problem and solution spaces at different levels of abstraction. Novelty is associated with starting from concrete problems, spending more of the journey in an abstract solution space, and iterating within that solution space.
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4. From Obstacles to Opportunities: How Anchoring and Timing Choices Shape Serendipitous Discoveries. Shi-Ying Lim & Tian Heong Chan,  Working paper {Link]
How do cognitive anchoring and timing choices shape serendipitous discoveries?
This study examines how actors respond when they encounter obstacles. Problem- versus resource-anchoring and immediate versus deferred engagement create different pathways of discovery and build different capabilities for recognizing future opportunities.