Finding commercially attractive user innovations: An exploration and test of "lead user" theory
Nikolaus Franke, Eric von Hippel · 2003
The “lead user construct” was developed to preferentially identify commercially attractive innovation-related information developed by users of products and services. In this empirical study of user modifications to Apache web server software, we further develop and test lead user theory by studying the independent and combined effects of two key component variables. We find that one component - being at the leading edge of important marketplace trends selectively identifies user-developed innovations having higher marketplace potential. We find that this and other components identify users likely to have innovated. We suggest how our findings can be applied to improve identification of lead user innovations having high commercial attractiveness.