Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

User Innovation

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management

  • 322 Accesses

Abstract

Almost 30 years ago, researchers began a systematic study of innovation by end users and user firms. At that time, the phenomenon was generally regarded as a minor oddity. Today, it is clear that innovation by users, generally openly shared, is a very powerful and general phenomenon. It is rapidly growing in extent due to continuing advances in computing and communication technologies that are increasing the capabilities of user–innovators. It is also becoming both an important rival to and an important feedstock for producer-centred innovation in many fields. In this entry, I provide an overview of what the international research community now understands about this phenomenon.

This entry was originally published on Palgrave Connect under ISBN 978-1-137-49190-9. The content has not been changed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, R.C. 1983. Collective invention. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 4: 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, C., C. Hienerth, and E. von Hippel. 2006. How user innovations become commercial products: A theoretical investigation and case study. Research Policy 35: 1291–1313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, J.P.J., and E. von Hippel. 2009. Transfer of user process innovations to process equipment producers: A study of Dutch high-tech firms. Research Policy 38: 1181–1191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enos, J.L. 1962. Petroleum progress and profits: A history of process innovation. Boston: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franke, N., and S. Shah. 2003. How communities support innovative activities: An exploration of assistance and sharing among end-users. Research Policy 32: 157–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, N., and E. von Hippel. 2003. Satisfying heterogeneous user needs via innovation toolkits: The case of apache security software. Research Policy 32: 1199–1215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, C. 1968. Chemical process plant: Innovation and the world market. National Institute Economic Review 45: 29–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gault, F., and E. von Hippel. 2009. The prevalence of user innovation and free innovation transfers: Implications for statistical indicators and innovation policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management. Working paper No. 4722-09 (January).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harhoff, D., J. Henkel, and E. von Hippel. 2003. Profiting from voluntary information spillovers: How users benefit by freely revealing their innovations. Research Policy 32: 1753–1769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, J. 2006. Selective revealing in open innovation processes: The case of embedded Linux. Research Policy 35: 953–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henkel, J., and E. von Hippel. 2005. Welfare implications of user innovation. Journal of Technology Transfer 30: 73–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herstatt, C., and E. von Hippel. 1992. From experience: Developing new product concepts via the lead user method: A case study in a ‘low tech’ field. Journal of Product Innovation Management 9: 213–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hienerth, C. 2006. The commercialization of user innovations: The development of the rodeo kayak industry. R&D Management 36: 273–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeppesen, L. B. 2004. Profiting from Innovative User Communities: How Firms Organize the Production of User Modifications in the Computer Games Industry. Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy, Copenhagen Business School, Working paper No. WP-04.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakhani, K., and B. Wolf. 2005. Why hackers do what they do: Understanding motivation and effort in free/open source software projects. In Perspectives on free and open source software, ed. J. Feller, B. Fitzgerald, S.A. Hissam, and K.R. Lakhani. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lettl, C., C. Herstatt, and H. Gemünden. 2005. The entrepreneurial role of innovative users. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 20: 339–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lilien, G.L., P.D. Morrison, K. Searls, M. Sonnack, and E. von Hippel. 2002. Performance assessment of the lead user idea generation process. Management Science 48: 1042–1059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, K. 2000. The many faces of absorptive capacity: Spillovers of copper interconnect technology for semiconductor chips. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management. Working paper No. 4110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, P.D., J.H. Roberts, and E. von Hippel. 2000. Determinants of user innovation and innovation sharing in a local market. Management Science 46: 1513–1527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, P.D., J.H. Roberts, and D. Midgley. 2004. The nature of lead users and measurement of leading edge status. Research Policy 33: 351–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nuvolari, A. 2004. Collective invention during the British industrial revolution: The case of the Cornish pumping engine. Cambridge Journal of Economics 28: 347–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raasch C, and von Hippel E. 2012. Modeling interactions between the user and producer innovation paradigms: User-contested and user-complemented markets for innovation. Working paper, MIT Sloan School of Management. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2079763. Accessed 12 June 2013.

  • Riggs, W., and E. von Hippel. 1994. The impact of scientific and commercial values on the sources of scientific instrument innovation. Research Policy 23: 459–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, N. 1976. Perspectives on technology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J.A. 1934. The theory of economic development. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shah, S. 2000. Sources and patterns of innovation in a consumer products field: Innovations in sporting equipment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management. Working paper No. 4105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shah, S.K., and M. Tripsas. 2007. The accidental entrepreneur: The emergent and collective process of user entrepreneurship. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 1: 123–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, S., S.W. Sheryl, and E.J. Reedy. 2012. The Kauffman firm survey: Who are user entrepreneurs? Findings on innovation, founder characteristics, and firm characteristics. Kansas City: Kauffman Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of wealth nations. New York: Modern Library.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Urban, G.L., and E. von Hippel. 1988. Lead user analyses for the development of new industrial products. Management Science 34: 569–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E. 1988. The source of innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E. 1994. Sticky information and the locus of problem solving: Implications for innovation. Management Science 40: 429–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E. 2005. Democratizing innovation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E., and S.N. Finkelstein. 1979. Analysis of innovation in automated clinical chemistry analyzers. Science & Public Policy 6: 24–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E., and R. Katz. 2002. Shifting innovation to users via toolkits. Management Science 48: 821–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E., and G. von Krogh. 2003. Open source software and the ‘private-collective’ innovation model: Issues for organization science. Organization Science 14: 209–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIT Sloan School of Management, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric Von Hippel

Authors
  1. Eric Von Hippel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Von Hippel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    Mie Augier

  2. Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, University of California Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, Berkeley, California, USA

    David J. Teece

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this entry

Cite this entry

Von Hippel, E. (2016). User Innovation. In: Augier, M., Teece, D. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_380-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_380-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94848-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation