Organising User Communities for Innovation Management

160 Pages·2010·0.661 MB·English

by  Celine Schulz (auth.)

Celine Schulz
Organising User Communities
for Innovation Management
GABLER RESEARCH
Innovation und Entrepreneurship
Herausgegeben von
Professor Dr. Nikolaus Franke,
Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien,
Professor Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D.,
Universität München, und
Professor Dr. Joachim Henkel,
Technische Universität München
Innovative Konzepte und unternehmerische Leistungen sind für Wohlstand und
Fortschritt von entscheidender Bedeutung. Diese Schriftenreihe vereint wissen-
schaftliche Arbeiten zu diesem Themenbereich. Sie beschreiben substanzielle
Erkenntnisse auf hohem methodischen Niveau.
Celine Schulz

Organising User Communities
for Innovation Management
With a Foreword by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D.
RESEARCH
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detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Dissertation Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 2009
1st Edition 2009
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Preface
With the astounding success of social networking systems such as Facebook, Bebo,
LinkedIn,andMySpace,interestinsocialnetworkssoaredamongstresearchersandprac-
titioners. Organised groups of individuals can be of considerable value to firms, but a
deeperunderstandingofthephenomenonisstilllacking.
Usercommunitiesaresocialnetworksofindividualswhogrouptogetherwiththepurpose
of exchanging ideas, insights and experiences with each other. Although the concept of
leveragingusercommunitiesforinnovationmanagementisnotnew,mostoftheliterature
hasassumedthereadyexistenceofusercommunitiesandhasconcentratedonexamining
how firms can cooperate with them. Research on the emergence and persistence of user
communitieshasmostlybeenneglected.
CelineSchulzattemptstofillthisgapbyfocussingonwhyusercommunitiesexist,what
their goals are and how they function. In her dissertation, Celine Schulz undertakes a
studyofindividualsinusercommunitiesofthesoftwarefirmComputerAssociates(CA).
Using an online survey, a unique data set of users in 161 different CA user groups was
assembled. Thisdissertationconsistsofthreeempiricalstudiesbasedonthisdataset. The
firsttwostudiesanalysewhyindividualscommunicatewithothermembersintheiruser
communities,thatiswhytheyarewillingtoshareinformationwitheachotherandhow
theybenefitfromtheinteractionwiththeirusercommunities. Thethirdstudyexamines
how user communities can be leveraged for firms’ innovation processes, by specifically
investigatingtheindividual-andgroup-specificattributesofcustomercollaboratorsfrom
usercommunities.
ThedissertationpresentedbyCelineSchulzprovidesimportantnewresearchresultswhich
promote our understanding of how user communities can be organised internally and
externally for innovation management. I strongly recommend this book to researchers
andpractitionersalike.
Munich,September2009
Prof. DietmarHarhoff,Ph.D.
V
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank my doctoral advisor Dietmar Harhoff for his
superb research assistance, encouragement and patience. His infectious enthusiasm and
unlimitedzealhavebeenmajordrivingforcesthroughmygraduatecareerattheLudwig-
Maximilian University in Munich. I am especially grateful to him for granting me a
remarkabledegreeoffreedomandprovidingmewiththeresourcesIneededtopursuemy
researchinterests.
Moreover,IwouldalsoliketothankArnoldPicot,mythesisrefereeandscientificadvisor
forhismotivatingsupportandguidance. IalsowishtothankFranzWaldenbergerforhis
adviceandinsightfuldiscussionsduringmyMasterofBusinessstudies.
Equally, I would like to thank my colleagues at the Institute for Innovation Research,
Technology Management and Entrepreneurship who provided me with a very pleasant
work and research environment. In particular, I am deeply grateful to Karin Hoisl who
had provided me with countless advice and fruitful discussions on my research. I would
alsoliketothankJoachimHenkelforhisinspirationandvaluableguidance,whichplayed
anessentialroleintheconceptualisationofthisdissertation. Inaddition,Iwishtothank
Georg von Graevenitz, Carolin Ha¨ussler, Stefan Wagner, and Thomas von Eggelkraut-
Gottanka fortheir helpfulsupport andvaluablecomments. Finally, thanksto Rosmarie
Wilcoxforhelpingmeeditthefinaldraftsofthisdissertation.
This entire research project would not have been possible without the assistance of nu-
merous Computer Associates user group members. I am indebted to Leo Hauguel for
hisconstantsupportofmyresearchendevours,andespeciallyforhispersuasiveskillsin
convincingotherusergrouppresidentstoprovidemewithassistanceduringthelaunchof
theweb-basedsurvey. SpecialthanksalsogoestoRossMarkley,NorbertFlu¨gel,Wilhelm
Alexy,Hans-PeterKotowski,ClarkMeyer,ThomasBock,PhilipGineo,JanEiken,Oth-
mar Pusch, Johan Peyron, Herman Koester, Chris Poole and Borge Kraft-Pettersen for
theirvaluablecommentsandassistance. Iwouldalsoliketothankthefollowingemployees
of Computer Associates who had provided me with the necessary resources throughout
thecourseoftheresearchproject-GiovanniDiNatale,SibylleRitthammer,JanVanKan,
VII
Dennis Sullivan, Wendy Hughes, John Dueckman, Emma Mcgrattan, Danny Sandwell,
DaveClarkandMelissaBorza.
Iamalsogratefultomyparentsfortheirsupport,continuousencouragementandaffection.
In particular, I would like to thank my father for his assistance with the final editing of
this dissertation. Last but not least, I dedicate my thesis to my husband Jan and my
daughterChristina. Onlytheirlovingsupportandinexhaustiblepatiencemadeallofthis
possible.
CelineSchulz
VIII
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 UserCommunitiesintheInformationTechnologyIndustry . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 OrganisationofUserGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1.1 Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1.2 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.1.3 Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.2 ComputerAssociates’UserGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.2.1 TheCAUserGroupProgram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.2.2 Inter-NationalUserGroupforEndevor . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 DescriptionoftheDissertationChapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Determinants of Sharing Information in User Communities 17
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 TheEmbeddednessofEconomicAction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 DeterminantsofInformationSharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.1 SocialFactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.1.1 StructuralEmbeddedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.1.2 RelationalEmbeddedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3.1.3 CognitiveEmbeddedness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3.2 EconomicFactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4 DataSourceandVariableDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.1 DataSource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.2 VariableDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5 EmpiricalAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
IX
2.5.1 DescriptiveStatistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.5.2 MultivariateAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5.2.1 ModelSpecification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5.2.2 EmpiricalResults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.6 DiscussionofFindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3 Maximising Benefits from Participating in User Communities 45
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2 LiteratureReview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.3 DeterminantsofSuccessfulUserCommunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3.1 Individual-SpecificDeterminants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3.2 Group-SpecificDeterminants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.4 ResearchMethodsandDataDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4.2 VariableDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.5 EmpiricalAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.1 DescriptiveStatistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5.2 MultivariateAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.2.1 ModelSpecification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.2.2 EmpiricalResults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4 Selecting User Community Collaborators for Innovation Management 75
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.2 CustomerIntegrationintheInnovationProcess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.1 IdeaGeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.2 ProblemSolving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.2.3 ImplementationandDiffusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3 CharacteristicsofUserCommunityCollaborators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.1 Individual-SpecificCharacteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.2 Group-SpecificCharacteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4 StudySettingandMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
X
4.5 DataDescription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.6 EmpiricalAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.6.1 DescriptiveStatistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.6.2 MultivariateAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.6.2.1 ModelSpecifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.6.2.2 EstimationResults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.7 DiscussionoftheFindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5 Conclusion 107
5.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.2 LimitationsandFutureResearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Appendix A 115
Appendix B 116
Bibliography 135
XI