User innovations through online communities from the perspective of social network analysis

Abstract

Organizations have begun to leverage both internal and external sources for innovation. Specifically, organizations are increasingly relying on end users that engage via user innovation communities to identify potentially valuable ideas for an organization to adopt. However, research has shown that organizational success in leveraging these communities relies on a thorough understanding of how users behave within the community. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide further analysis and develop a richer understanding of user behavior in the Dell IdeaStorm user innovation community. Findings illustrate different patterns of user behaviors when they comments or rate posted ideas