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Abstract:
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Studies of the sources of innovations have recognized that many innovations are developed
by users. However, the fact that firms employ communities of users to strengthen their innovation
process has not yet received much attention. In firm-established user communities users freely reveal
innovations to a firm’s product platform, which in turn puts the firm in a favorable position (a) because
these new product features become available to all users by sharing on a user-to-user basis, or (b)
because it allows the firm to pick up the innovations and integrate them in future products and then
benefit by selling them to all users. We study the key personal attributes of the individuals responsible
for innovations and the creation of value in this organizational context, namely the innovative users, to
explain why firm-established user communities work. Analyzing data derived from a web-based
questionnaire generating 442 answers we find that innovative users are likely to be (i) hobbyists, an
attribute that can be assumed to affect innovators’ willingness to share innovations (positively), and (ii)
responsive to "firm-recognition" as a motivating factor for undertaking innovation, which explains
their decision to join the firm’s domain. In agreement with earlier studies we also find that innovative
users are likely to be "lead users", an attribute that we assume to affect the quality of user innovation.
Whether or not a firm-established user community can be turned into an asset for the firm is to a great
extent conditioned by the issues studied in this paper.
Keywords: Innovation, User community, User Characteristics
JEL code(s): L21; L23; O31; O32 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
