Increasing cost pressure and changing patients’ needs in the healthcare sector have led to new delivery models for primary care. Researchers and practitioners need to establish innovative methods to obtain insights into patients’ preferences and effectiveness of healthcare services.

This study examines the creation of innovation-related knowledge in virtual communities visited mainly by lead users. Such communities enable firms to access a large number of lead users in a cost-efficient way. A propositional framework relates lead users’ characteristics to unique virtual...