Lead user theory has gained traction in both academia and practice, given that involving lead users (LUs) can yield more innovative and commercially successful products. Yet, measurement inconsistencies have hindered consensus on how to reliably assess lead userness. This paper develops and...

Despite the promising ideas of lead users, the success rate of the open innovation process remains low if no proper personal characteristics are attached to the external contributor. The knowledge about the essential characteristic elements of lead users is crucial to select the right lead users...

Despite the promising ideas of lead users, the success rate of the open innovation process remains low if no proper personal characteristics are attached to the external contributor. The knowledge about the essential characteristic elements of lead users is crucial to select the right lead users...

Background: According to the lead user theory, lead users at the front of a market, benefiting significantly from new products, usually have more innovation intension than general users. However, little research depicts the entrepreneurship motivations that drive innovators to become...

Background: According to the lead user theory, lead users at the front of a market, benefiting significantly from new products, usually have more innovation intension than general users. However, little research depicts the entrepreneurship motivations that drive innovators to become...

Lead users are often established in an organizational innovation process to attenuate the difficulties a company faces, such as high costs or the obscurity of customers' needs. But to benefit from these lead users a major challenge is to characterize and identify them especially in the...

Introduction -- Theoretical Background -- Research Design and Methodology -- Case Descriptions of the studied Communities of Practice -- CoPs as Enabler of Organizational Knowledge Creation -- CoPs as Loci of Collective Lead Userness -- CoPs as an Enhancement of Organizations’ Innovative...