User roles and contributions during the new product development process in collaborative innovation communities

Area of Science:

• Business and Management
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Sociology

Background:

• Collaborative innovation (co-innovation) communities are emerging platforms for new product development (NPD).
• Companies increasingly involve users voluntarily in NPD processes through online communities.
• Understanding diverse user roles is crucial for effective co-innovation management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the heterogeneous roles of users within an online co-innovation community.
• To identify and analyze distinct user roles and their contributions during the NPD process.
• To provide practical guidance for co-innovation community practitioners.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory study utilizing a global co-innovation project.
• Content analysis to measure user behaviors and contributions.
• Social network analysis and cluster methods to distinguish user roles.

Main Results:

• Identification of six distinct user roles: project leader, active designer, generalist, communicator, passive designer, and observer.
• Demonstration that user roles differ significantly in the form and quality of their contributions.
• Analysis of user value and contributions throughout the NPD process.

Conclusions:

• The study contributes to co-innovation research by defining user roles and their impact on NPD.
• Findings offer practical guidance for implementing co-innovation projects and designing effective platforms.
• Understanding user roles is key to optimizing co-innovation community dynamics and outcomes.