Entrepreneurial Members in Online Innovation Communities Blessing or Curse?
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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Open Source Innovation: The Phenomenon, Participant's Behaviour, Business Implications. ed. / Cornelius Herstatt; Daniel Ehls. Taylor and Francis Inc., 2015. p. 193-211.
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Entrepreneurial Members in Online Innovation Communities Blessing or Curse?
AU - Bierwald, Jan
AU - Herstatt, Cornelius
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/2/11
Y1 - 2015/2/11
N2 - In this paper we develop initial inductive research propositions regarding the behavior of entrepreneurial members in online innovation communities (OIC). In these communities, up to thousands of volunteers collaboratively develop an innovative product. Based on a netnography analysis of 7,362 mails, we follow a micro-level-approach concentrating on individual behavior and conduct a content and co-citation analysis of community members. By explicitly distinguishing entrepreneurial from private community members, we are able to investigate differences in their contribution focus, degree of specialization and collaboration level. Entrepreneurs tend to contribute more to innovative, disruptive topics and show a lower degree of specialization compared to private members. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial members need intensive care by management as they tend to form separated cliques with their peers and thus limit collaboration within the community. Finally, we discuss implications for both research and management.
AB - In this paper we develop initial inductive research propositions regarding the behavior of entrepreneurial members in online innovation communities (OIC). In these communities, up to thousands of volunteers collaboratively develop an innovative product. Based on a netnography analysis of 7,362 mails, we follow a micro-level-approach concentrating on individual behavior and conduct a content and co-citation analysis of community members. By explicitly distinguishing entrepreneurial from private community members, we are able to investigate differences in their contribution focus, degree of specialization and collaboration level. Entrepreneurs tend to contribute more to innovative, disruptive topics and show a lower degree of specialization compared to private members. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial members need intensive care by management as they tend to form separated cliques with their peers and thus limit collaboration within the community. Finally, we discuss implications for both research and management.
KW - Entrepreneurial behavior
KW - Member specialization
KW - User entrepreuner
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959909389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4324/9781315754482
DO - 10.4324/9781315754482
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84959909389
SN - 9781138802025
SP - 193
EP - 211
BT - Open Source Innovation
A2 - Herstatt, Cornelius
A2 - Ehls, Daniel
PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.
ER -