Using insights from the user innovation and knowledge management literature, we develop and empirically illustrate a typology of user inputs for innovation. Based on the knowledge complexity and uncertainty associated with a particular innovation, we propose four user input types and link them...

Overview: While customer-centered innovation has thus far focused on best practices for user-producer collaboration and organizing users to obtain relevant inputs, the internal organization that enables firms to integrate user knowledge into product innovation outputs is less well understood. We...

Crowdsourcing ideas from users in online communities are becoming common practice in the development of high-tech products. While most studies focus on sourcing ideas from ordinary users (i.e., non-experts), high-tech firms commonly rely more on ‘lead users’. Despite the importance of lead...

Purpose – Inter-firm collaborative innovation typically requires knowledge sharing among individuals employed by collaborating firms. However, it is also associated with considerable risks, especially if the knowledge sharing process is not handled using proper judgment. Such risks have been...