Working Paper Series, Department of Industrial Economics & Strategy, Copenhagen Business School
No 04-2:
Why firm-established user communities work for innovation: The personal attributes of innovative users in the case of computer-controlled music instruments
Lars Bo Jeppesen and Lars Frederiksen
Abstract: 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; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: L21,; L23,; O31,; O32; (follow links to similar papers)
Before downloading any of the electronic versions below
you should read our statement on
copyright.
Download GhostScript
for viewing Postscript files and the
Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing pdf files.
Downloadable files:
8778690943.pdf 
Download Statistics
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ()
or Helena Lundin ().
Programing by
Design by Joachim Ekebom
