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ARTICLE IN PRESS

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International Management xxx (2010) xxx–xxx International Journal of Information Management

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect at  ScienceDirect

Intern Int ernati ationa onall Jour Journal nal of Inform Informati ation on Man Manag ageme ement nt  j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e :   w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / i j i n f o m g t

Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of social networking website Chia-Liang Hung a, , Jerome Chih-Lung Chou b , Tse-Ping Dong c ∗

a

Department of Information Management, National Chi Nan University, 470, University Rd., Puli, Nantou County 545, Taiwan, ROC  Department of Information Management, Hwa-Hsia Institute of Technology, 111, Gong Jhuan Rd., Chung Ho, Taipei 235, Taiwan, ROC  c Graduate Institute of Global Business and Strategy, National Taiwan Normal University, 31, Shida Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan, ROC  b

a r t i c l e

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 Article history: Available online xxx Keywords: Innovation Communication Lead user Toolkit Web 2.0

a b s t r a c t

The study focuses on which users to target and why and how to inspire their participation by applying combination of von Hippel’s lead user and user innovation toolkits with Rogers’ innovation diffusion theories. theori es. After an inves investigat tigation ion of a socia sociall networkin networking g webs website, ite, this stud study y finds that individual individualss with large number of hits are highly active users of new functions. Moreover, they are likely to use toolkits to customize custom ize their personal personal usesand respo respond nd to others’ others’ proble problems. ms. Therefore,they Therefore,they garner garner appreciatio appreciation n from oth othersin ersin ret return urn,, achiev achcompensation. ieve e hig higherranksin herranksin thetop hitparade, hitparad e, an and d obt obtainbette ainbetter-e r-expe xpecte d benefit ben efits s fro from m the website’s incentive This study also evaluates the toolkits’ efficacy incted the Web 2.0 context andfinds thatthey arenot equiv equivalen alents.This ts.This researchoffers researchoffers insightsuseful insightsuseful forweb service service providersto providersto target innovative users and create an environment using web toolkits to induce user-generated innovation and achieve better effect of innovation communication. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Intro Introducti duction on 1.1. Research background

Aft After er the dot dot-co -com m bub bubble ble bur burst st in 200 2000, 0, Int Intern ernet et ent enterp erpris rises es set off in search of sustainable business models. It is clear that outstanding technology is not sufficient for the success of Internet 2009). ). Surviving  Surviving and new Interbusiness (Turban, (Turban, King, & Lang, 2009 net enter enterprise prisess have devel developed oped the secon second-gene d-generati ration on Inter Internet net business models, generally known as Web 2.0. Therefore, Amazon sells books and other items over the Internet by not only smoothing out the logistics between bricks and clicks but also aggregating aggreg ating more reade reader-po r-posted sted book reviews. eBay operates its own way of C2C online online auc auctio tions ns by acc accumu umulat lating ing sel seller lers’ s’ and buyers’ buyer s’ credi creditt recor records ds as well as conti continuall nually y impro improving ving transaction actio n securi security. ty. Neverthel Nevertheless, ess, firms with fast growi growing ng Inter Internet net businesses are indeed incorporating a different business model. Some of them emphasize on encouraging user participation and cooperation within the user community as well as between users and enterprises. The widespread deployment of the Internet has greatly enhanced the ability of firms to engage with customers

Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 49 2910960x4640. Corresponding 2910960x4640. [email protected],,  [email protected]   (C.-L. Hung Hung), ), E-maill addresses: E-mai addresses:   [email protected]  jerome.chou@  [email protected] gmail.com (J.C.-L.  (J.C.-L. Chou),  Chou),  tpdong@ntnu [email protected] .edu.tw (T.-P.  (T.-P. Dong). ∗

for aggressively utilizing the creativity of diverse users from all over the world (Dahan (Dahan & Hauser, 2002). 2002 ). In  In this case, the great volume of user-generated content dominates information resources. Successful Succes sful Inter Internet net provi providers ders have become become the main maintaine tainers rs of community munit y platf platforms orms.. For exam example, ple, YouTube YouTube maint maintains ains a videosharing platform, while Flickr focuses on image sharing and Wikipedia concentrates on encouraging mass collaboration to create an upto-date encyclopedia. By creating virtual customer environments, firms can tap into customer knowledge through an ongoing dialogue (Nambisan, (Nambisan, 2002; Sawhney & Prandelli, 2000). 2000 ). In  In the world of Int Intern ernet et bus busine inesse sses, s, inn innova ovativ tive e use users rs hav have e cre create ated d som some e friend friendly ly gadget gad getss tha thatt hav have e bee been n wid widely ely cir circul culat ated ed among among use users rs the themse mselve lves. s. For example, Internet widgets are available for displaying time, weather, stock prices, dictionaries, and news on the PC desktop without witho ut opening the browser. Thus, Yahoo Yahoo,, Apple, Apple, and Google now all open APIs (application interfaces) or additional innovative toolkits to inspire innovations from users all over the world (Programmableweb, 2009 2009). ). McKinsey found that early adopters of Web 2.0-related technologies in corporate websites obtained better financial returns  They usually (more than 70%) applied (Bughin & Manyika, 2007). 2007). They Web2.0 too tools ls to com commun munica icate te wit with h custom customersas ersas wel welll as to man manage age internal collaboration. In addition, more than 50% of the companies in the fields of retail, high-tech, telecommunication, financial services, servic es, and pharm pharmaceut aceuticals icals are planning planning to invest in Web 2.0related technologies in the next three years (Bughin (Bughin & Manyika, 2007). 2007 ).  They intend to install blogs, RSS (Really Simple Syndication), podcasting, and other interactive web technologies in order

0268-4012/$ 0268-4012 /$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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to communicate with customers and partners, and to augment social networking for promoting collective intelligence across the boundaries of firms as well as between departments. Thus, firms increasingly understand the transformative role of customers in future competition. The Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Ducati, has initiated a web-based collaborative innovation platform with more than 160,000 motor fans since early 2000. Thereby, it experienced spontaneous creativities from Ducati motor owners in the front-end stage as well as the back-end process of new product development (Sawhney, (Sawhney, Verona, & Prandelli, 2005). 2005).   In addition, Wang and Head (2007) (2007) f   f ound ound that the higher degree of web inter-

2009). ).   For example, Wikis tralized management (Turban (Turban et al., 2009 have made Web 2.0 economy popular among interested communitiess spont nitie spontaneou aneously sly colla collabora borating ting for infor informati mation on constructi construction on (Tapsc Tapscott ott & Willi Williams, ams, 2006), 2006),   del.icio. del.icio.us.co us.com m is an exchange exchange of  internet bookmarks, and 43Things.com offers space for users to share their perceptions and expectations and even to mutually encourage achievement. In the context of Web 2.0, users have become the key content creators, evaluators, and disseminators. Thus, the management of creativity contributed from user participation is critical to Web 2.0 operations. The word creativity is similar to words of originality, expressiveness, and imagination

actions among customers, user community, and online retailers would increase the web surfing satisfaction, and further maintain the customer relationship.

(Selker, 2005). 2005).   The creativity over Internet means a combination of flexibility, originality and sensitivity to novel and useful ideas, which enables the thinker to break away from the usual sequence of thought, into different and productive sequences, the result of  which gives satisfaction to himself or herself and possibly others’ (Brennan & Dooley, 2005). 2005 ).   Creativity produces things defined by the effect required, distinctive, and differentiated in an abstract or imperfect imper fect speci specificati fication on invoki invoking ng brainstor brainstorming ming spontaneou spontaneously sly and evolutionarily among users rather than an invariable prescription (Freeman, 2009). 2009). Zeng,  Zeng, Salvendy, and Zhang (2009) emphasized (2009)  emphasized that web creativity includes new ideas enhancing users’ online affect, importance, interactivity, novelty, changeability, personalization, and aesthetics. Consequently, more creative the web is, more appealing to users will be (Zeng (Zeng et al., 2009). 2009). Yusuf  Yusuf (2009) als also o cla claime imed d tha thatt thecapital thecapital ari arisin sing g from from networ networks,that ks,that is,the wik wik-icap icapit ital al,, is th the e bedr bedroc ock k of a crea creati tive ve so soci ciet ety. y. It is crit critic ical al for for mo mode dern rn firms to encour encourage age and develop develop the wikic wikicapita apitall to favor achieveachievements and initiative, and therefore translate web creativity into innovation (Yusuf, (Yusuf, 2009 2009). ). To shift more weight of management in innovation, production, tion, and marke marketin ting g to the user, there are four sug sugges gestio tions ns to Web 2.0 business (Hwang, (Hwang, Su, & Hung, 2006): 2006):   (1) Weaving the community: Operators have to increase the size of web communit nities ies for soc social ial networ networkin king. g. The lar larger ger the com commun munity ity,, the gre greate aterr will be the network externality. (2) Inducing user participation: Operat Ope rators ors have have to des designa igna sca scalab lable le pla platfo tform rm wit with h delibe deliberat rate e inc incenentives tives to acc accumu umulat late e use userr con conten tent. t. (3) Cus Custom tomizi izing ng the exp experi erienc ences: es: Operators Opera tors must devel develop op a user-f user-friend riendly ly environment environment to creat create e personal experiences using convenient plug-in-and-play modules, tags, annotations, annotations, and similar similar functions. functions. (4) Integratin Integrating g web services: Operators have to cross over different platforms to re-mix multiple sources of content for enhancing the value of the information. In sum summar mary, y, we arg argue ue that that Web 2.0 bus busine inesse ssess com combin bine e a centralized diffusion orientation that Web 1.0 excels and a decentralized creative innovation at the same time. The key source of  value for Web 2.0 is the mutual and evolving contribution of users in an open and democratic platform where users can develop their own socia sociall netwo networks, rks, share prefe preferences rences,, re-mi re-mix, x, redefi redefine ne and refine collective intelligence, and, as a result, enrich the entire surfing experience. exper ience. Theref Therefore, ore, Web 2.0 encou encourages rages under underlying lying innovation innovationss to emerge, communicate, diffuse, and then to benefit themselves as well as entrepreneurial suppliers.

1.2. Resea Research rch moti motivatio vation n

Acco Accord rdin ing g to von von Hi Hipp ppel el’s ’s lead lead user user th theo eory ry,, le lead ad us user erss are are at th the e leading edge of an important market trend and so are currently experi exp erienc encing ing needs needs tha thatt man many y use users rs in tha thatt market market wil willl exp experi erienc ence e lat later er (von Hip Hippel pel,, 198 1986 6). In addi addition, tion, they antic anticipat ipate e relat relatively ively high benefits by obtaining solutions to their needs, and therefore may innovate innova te (von Hippe Hippel, l, 1986 1986). ). Cer Certai tainly nly,, this this kin kind d of use userr is an imp imporortant source of innovation for the manufacturer. Identifying lead users, use rs, firm firmss und under er the Web2.0 con contex textt cou could ld als also o ind induce uce the online online creative creat ive user’ user’ss part participa icipation tion in effect effective ive innov innovation ationss and encour encourage age innovation communication. optimi optimistic sticInternet claims to abound on with how customers, best pract practice ice firms areWhile leveraging the connect there is little formal research on collaborative innovation and marketing communication. Therefore, this study focuses on the mechanism using Web 2.0 technolo technologies gies to inspi inspire re and communic communicate ate innovations with customers, partners, and augmented social networks. This This pap paper er pre presen sents ts a det detail ailed ed ope operat ration ional al mec mechan hanismby ismby a Taiwan Taiwan-based community website to show how a firm is applying von Hippel’s lead user theory to improve its new service development and marketing campaign in the Web 2.0 context. Additionally, this study determines the efficacy of mechanism mediated by innovation toolkits embedded in websites, which von which  von Hippel (2005c) (2005c) h  had ad emphasizedas empha sizedas a prom prominentfactor inentfactor in encou encouraginguser raginguser part participa icipation tion and inspiring user innovation. 2. Liter Literatur ature e revi review  ew   2.1. What is Web 2.0?

The concept of “Web 2.0” began with a conference between O’Reilly O’Reil ly Med Media ia andMedia andMediaLiv Live e Int Intern ernat ation ional.Dale al.Dale Dou Dougher gherty,a ty,a web pioneer and vice president of O’Reilly, noted that “Web 2.0”—the sec second ond gen genera eratio tion n of web com compan panies ies—ha —had d eme emerge rged d (O’Reilly, 2005). 2005 ). Internet  Internet expert expert O’Reilly  O’Reilly (2005) d (2005) demonstrated emonstrated the following seven principles of Web 2.0: web as platform, harnessing collective tive int intell ellige igence nce,, dat data a as the nex nextt “In “Intel tel ins inside ide,” ,” the end of sof softwa tware re release cycle, lightweight programming models, software above the level of a single device, and rich user experiences.   Turban et al. (2009) a (2009) argue rgue that Web 2.0 is the popular term for advanced Internet Inter net techn technologi ologies es and appl applicati ications ons inclu including ding blog blogs, s, wikis (documents ume nts wri writt tten en collab collabora orativ tively ely in a sim simpleWeb pleWeb ma marku rkup p lan langua guage) ge),, RSS, and socia sociall bookm bookmarkin arking. g. Users are empow empowered ered with great greater er freedom and autonomy in online activities ranging from tagging, publishing, to self-programming (Anfinnsen, Ghinea,collaboration & de Cesare, 2010; Millard & Ross, 2006). 2006). Web  Web(Anfinnsen, 2.0 offers greater among amo ng use users, rs, con conten tentt pro provid viders ers,, and ent enterp erpris rises, es, based based on a dem demoocratic, personal, and do-it-yourself distributed medium than Web 1.0, which traditionally centered on vendors’ or publishers’ cen-

 2.2. Finding innovative users

Regarding Regar ding to lever leveraging aging user innova innovation,the tion,the participatory design is one approach of finding innovative ideas from users or user groups, which involves users as co-designers at a very early stage 1991). ). Another  Another in the development of a system (e.g. Ehn (e.g.  Ehn & Kyng, 1991 ethnographically inspired meth-s popu popular lar appro approach hashic beento adop adopt ods suchas an ach empat empathic participa participant ntt obser observatio vation, n, whereresearchers whereresearcher observe the current work practices of a group of users, and further consider this information when creating a new system (e.g. 1997). However, Leonard-Barton & Rayport, 1997).  However, these approaches are

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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developed and used in organizational context where users are colocated and interacting with designers. Web 2.0 businesses could find more efficient and convenient means to leverage user innovation. Web 2.0 contexts facilitate firms to find innovative users. von users.  von Hippel, Thomke, and Sonnack (1999) a (1999)  advocate dvocate that the firm must identify important market/technical trends on which some innovative vativ e users have a leadi leading ng posit position. ion. They suggest it is importan importantt for the development team to connect these users, who are facing similar problems on the emerging trends. In Web 2.0 context, people with a serious interest in any topic tend to gather on a network to help one another. For example, IC designers may participate in the problem-solving Internet SOC/SIP forums or attend semiconduc semic onductor tor works workshops hops and confer conferences.Firms ences.Firms can visitspecialized user community websites, where lead users often congregate and post their innovations for others to download, use, comment on, and improve (von (von Hippel, 2005b 2005b). ). As  As pointed in the research of   Sawhney Sawhney et al. (2005) (2005),,  the Internet interactive communication has played as a platform that users engaged and collaborated to innovate.

3

Empowering their lead users shall be a fruitful way for businesses to implement Web 2.0 technologies.  2.4. Empowering innovative users

Hippell (200 (2005c) 5c)   suggested suggested five attr attribute ibutess for toolkits to von Hippe encouragethe encour agethe lea lead d use users’innova rs’innovatio tions.First ns.First,, the they y must must ena enableusers bleusers to learn through trial and error. That is to say, the outcome of  operating toolkits can be visible and adjusted gradually, with no hazard to the system and to the user. Second, they must offer users an appropriate solution space containing several economic

Because Becau se of the Inter Internet net socia sociall networ network, k, in addit addition ion to innova innovation, tion, lea lead d use users rs cou could ld als also o pla play y an imp import ortant ant rol role e in com commun munica icatio tion n and diffusion of innovation, if their incentives are properly managed. Morrison, Roberts, and von Hippel (2000)   f o ound und improvements of library software that is freely revealed and communicated by  Franke and Shah (2003)   f o ound und user-developed innovalibraries. Franke libraries. tions tions tha thatt is fre freely ely sha shared red wit within hin com commun muniti ities es of spo sport rt ent enthus husias iasts. ts. Allen (1983) (1983) a  argued rgued that free communication of innovations could be econom economica ically lly jus justifi tified ed by gains gains fro from m reputa reputatio tion n and in the val value ue of assets complementary to the use of the innovation.  Lerner and Tirole (2002) a (2002) also lso proposed an incentive of free communicating of  open source codes, which is the increase of a programmer’s reputation among peers and potential employers, and the reputation increases his or her value on the job market.  von Hippel (2007) argued that when competition between innovation users is low, e.g. due to geographical separation of markets, the user is more willing to communicate innovation with others. Though Thoug h the above research discussed the incentive of innova innova-tionreleasing and comm communica unication,they tion,they focuse focused d on the induc inducement ement to innovate. Rogers’ innovate.  Rogers’ theory (1995) (1995) c  concerns oncerns more about the user’s role of opini opinion on leader or change agent. Rogers articu articulates lates that innovative users as change agents can facilitate the diffusion of  innovation. Such change agents usually act as opinion leaders in the adopter adopter comm community unity,, exhib exhibiting iting chara characteri cteristics stics of higher degre degree e of external communication, accessibility, social participation, and innovativeness. Especially when the system of innovation diffusion is of a higher degree of network interconnectedness, the role of the change agent is more important to promote the adoption to overcome the threshold of critical mass. In line with Rogers,   Stewart Stewart and Hyys Hyysalo alo (200 (2008) 8)   claim that innovation intermediaries perform the functions of configuring, facilitati facil itating, ng, and broke brokering ring techno technologies logies,, uses, and relat relationshi ionships ps in uncertain and emerging markets.   Shenkan and Sichel (2007) point point out the use user’s r’s influe influence nce in mar market keting ing,, wit with h whi which ch the user-generated contents can leverage customers in creating and disseminating advertising, and capitalize the online feedback to drive innovation. innovation. In Web 2.0 conte context, xt, innovati innovative ve users can easily acquire, modify, create, and disseminate innovations through the

alternatives alternativ es and techn technicall ically y feasible feasible sugges suggestions tions for frequ frequently ently encountered questions. Third, they must be user-friendly in the sense of being operable with little specialized training in an environment of familiarity and simplicity. Fourth, they must contain libraries libra ries of comm commonly only used modules that users can speed the development process. Finally, they must ensure that it is easy for manufacturers to communicate, transfer, replicate, and reproduce custom-designed products by users without excessive translation costs. The goal of toolkits is to enable users to redesign custom products that meet their needs precisely (Franke ( Franke & Schreier, 2002; Fran Fr anke ke & Sh Shah ah,, 20 2003 03;; vo von n Hi Hipp ppel el & Ka Katz tz,, 20 2002 02). ). For For exam exampl ple, e, in th the e semiconduc semic onductor tor field, field, silic silicon on found foundries ries cut the develo developmenttime pmenttime by two-th two -third irdss or mor more e wit with h the aid of too toolki lkits ts provid provided ed by equ equipm ipment ent manufactu manu facturers rers (Thomke Thomke & von Hip Hippel pel,, 20 2002 02). ). In the ma mater terial ialss field, field, GE provides customers with web-based tools for designing better plastic products ( Jeppesen, ( Jeppesen, 2005). 2005). Web 2.0 firms can create a learning environment with von Hippel’s principle of  trial-and-error   toolkits and thus support users a loosely coupled system with lightweight programming models, where user can adjust easily and gradually with no hazard to the whole system. Such simple web services as AJAX (Asynchronous  JavaScript and XML) are concerned with syndicating data outward O’Reilly, lly, 200 2005 5). withou wit houtt hea heavy vy coordi coordinat nation ion or contro controll with with others others (O’Rei They The y all allow ow the just-do-it cre creato ators rs in theeasiest theeasiest wayto tak take e themost innovative services, which they can modify and confirm back and forth on the space like a blackboard for hackability, remixability, and evaluation for choices (von (von Hippel, 2005c). 2005c). The representative characteristic of Web 2.0 through various kinds of social networking can circulate basic and general solutions tions by theusers’spont theusers’spontane aneousposti ousposting,artic ng,articula ulatin ting, g, andsharing andsharing of  person per sonal al opinio opinions, ns, experi experienc ences, es, and ope operat ration ions. s. With With reg regard ard to the secondtoolkitattribute secondtoolkitattrib ute of solut solution ion space,those reaso reasonableand nableand economic custom designs can be typically available to user-designers. Simple web services such as FAQ, RSS, and REST (representational state transfer) are concerned with supporting easy communication and discussion with each other. Thus, beyond the pre-existing capability and constraints built into a particular manufacturer’s production system, the function of social networking in the circumstances cumst ances of the Web 2.0 conte contexts xts indee indeed d escal escalates ates the possi possibilit bility y and bro broade adens ns the inn innova ovatio tion n space space (Turban Turban et al. al.,, 20 2009 09). ). For exa exammple, websites such as del.icio.us, Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook have pioneered a concept of “folksonomy” (in contrast to taxonomy), a grassroots style of collaborative categorization of sites using freely chosen keywords or tags. Consequently, users may tag a photo on Flickr of an accident by “death” or “insurance,” which is highly cross-referential to user activity and thus attractive to particular interested parties. Therefore, Web 2.0 technologies facilitating users to query, notice, and dialogue each other may drive the user community, the manufacturers, and the third parties to innovate further under the broadening solution space constituted by the

social network,orand thus are in a good position to be facilitators of  new products services. In summ summary, ary, given the advanced Internet technolog technological ical and social environment, Web 2.0 businesses should leverage the user’s power to innova innovate, te, and to diffuse the useruser-drive driven n innova innovations tions..

spiral social networking. Third, users in the Web 2.0 contexts can own and exercise control over the data personally to add value to the application and to create new business models (Turban (Turban et al., 2009 2009). ). The  The expert  users of a product or service will be more familiar with the functional

 2.3. Innovation communication through innovative users

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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face than the manufacturer   experts, and may bring inspirations into realization soon due to a well-practiced design language or  Thus, the Web a “user-friendly” environment (von (von Hippel, 2005c). 2005c). Thus, 2.0 contexts actually support a familiar interface based on AJAX or similar common standards or existing popular protocol that facilitates users to sooner customize or personalize the mash-up functions that they want in a coincidence with the assertions out of user-friendly toolkits. Fourth Fou rth,, the mod module ule librar libraries ies pro provid vide e use users rs sta standa ndard, rd, pre pre-analyzed, and proved components that they can incorporate in novel designs (von (von Hippel, 2005c 2005c). ). If  If the module libraries make it easier for the followers to innovate further, they inherited collective tive int intell ellige igencejust ncejust as sta standi nding ng on theshoul theshoulder derss of use userr gia giants nts.. For exampl exa mple, e, as thegrowt thegrowth h of pee peerr pro produc ductio tion n met method hodss of ope open n sou source rce,, including includ ing the Linux Linux,, Apach Apache, e, MySQL, and Perl, PHP, or Pyth Python on code involved in most web servers, the web infrastructure in itself  evolves into an instance of collective intelligence under open APIs (Tur Turban ban et al. al.,, 20 2009 09). ). In add additi ition, on, the Web 2.0 ser servic vice e pro provid viders ers use user activities to produce better search results (Anfinnsen ( Anfinnsen et al., 2010;; O’Reil 2010 O’Reilly, ly, 2005 2005). ). For exa exampl mple, e, Wik Wikipe ipedia dia,, whi which ch can be add added ed by any any we web b user user and and edit edited ed by any any othe other, r, is a radi radica call expe experi rime ment nt in trust, applying the dictum that “with enough eyeballs, all bugs are 2005). ). An  An innovative applishallow,” to content creation (O’Reilly, (O’Reilly, 2005 cation combined Google Maps and crime data in Chicagocrime.org (EveryBlock, 2009 2009). ).   Not only was it a groundbreaking technical achiev ach ieveme ement nt butit wasgenuin wasgenuinelyusefu elyusefull forhousi forhousing, ng, sho shoppi pping, ng, etc etc.. Thus, Thu s, thetool thetoolkit kitss of mod modulelibra ulelibraryindeedactas ryindeedactas guidel guideline iness in a cascascade of creating, sharing, verifying, and even refining, where Web 2.0 contexts emphasize all the time. Consequently, the open modules and APIs are competent for inspiring capable individuals and parties parti es to innova innovate te colla collabora borativel tively y andfinally achie achieve ve mutu mutual al wanting, which manufacturers and the public sector usually fulfilled much later. Finally, the error-free translation can easily diffuse a novel idea without prohibitive transformation costs, especially when using a convertibl conver tible e langu language, age, and theref therefore ore reduce the effort of bring bringing ing Hippel, l, 2005 2005cc). The translati translating ng userr inn use innova ovatio tions ns to themarke themarkett (von Hippe toolki too lkits ts all allow ow use users rs to emb embrac race e andexten andextend d inn innova ovatio tions ns wit with h “so “some me rights reserved” in contrast to the traditional phrase “all rights reserved.” As a result, the useful guidepost of lowering transaction costs between parties can be helpful in eliminating excessive proprietary obstacles. For example, the web browser’s “View Source” option made it possible for any user to copy any other user’s web page. Another case of RSS was designed to empower the user to O’Reilly, ly, 2005 2005). ). vi viewthe ewthe cont conten entt heor she she wa want ntss wh whenit enit iswant iswanted( ed(O’Reil Thus, as long as the manufacturers open the APIs of proprietary platforms, novel applications that compatibly combine data and functionality from more than one source spontaneously emerge. Theref The refore ore,, the gap gapss betwee between n pla platfo tforms rms,, dev device ices, s, and sta standa ndards rds will will decrease, decrea se, but the explo exploitab itable le poten potential tial of innov innovation ation will contr contrarily arily increase. For example, Twitter, a fast growing company of Web 2.0 sin since ce 200 2008, 8, tra transm nsmitswhatyou itswhatyou aredoingin themicro themicro-bl -blog og thr throug ough h multiple platforms among MSN, Yahoo!IM, e-mail, and personal blog. In addition, the Google/Yahoo services will be available not only only on the the PC netw networ orks ks but but on the the mobi mobile le netw networ ork. k. Ther Theref efor ore, e, the the toolkits of error-free translation in the Web 2.0 context facilitate the penetration as well as realization of innovation. Some web applications are widely used for a long time rather than emerging since the era of Web 2.0. For example, the FAQs do not necessarily use tools about Blogs, RSS, REST, or Tagging. However,these advan advanced ced web 2.0technologi 2.0technologies es willmake the trad tradition itional al applications more intimate, fruitful tobe customers. As a result, for example, the interactive, informationand of FAQs will not only one-way and posted by the web master, but also intelligently and int intera eracti ctivel vely y linked linked to oth other er fol folk k but use useful ful sol soluti utions ons dev develo eloped ped by smart sma rt andgenero andgenerous us use users rs som somewh ewhere ere using using the REST REST tec techno hnolog logies ies..

1   demonstrates a suggestion of Web applicaIn summary, Table summary,  Table 1 tions and the suitable underlying Web 2.0 technologies guided by von Hippe Hippel’s l’s toolk toolkit’sprincipl it’sprinciple. e. The autho authors rs specul speculate ate the leadusers would be more active in using these Web applications. 3. Research Research desig design n  3.1. Building hypothesis

This research applies von Hippel’s lead user theory to identify innovative users in the Web 2.0 context and to test the efficacy of add-on toolkits in encouraging users’ adoption, innovation, and communica comm unication. tion. This stud study y invest investigate igated d a Taiwa Taiwan-bas n-based ed socia sociall networkingwebsite,Youthwant netwo rkingwebsite,Youthwant.com,which .com,which focused focused on novelcompositi pos ition on and pic pictur ture/v e/vide ideo o sha sharin ring g and was one of the sti sticki ckiest est and busiest websites in Taiwan, with eight million daily page views in 2007. According According to our inter interviews views with the websi website’s te’s management, innovative suggestions from users are very important to Youthwant.com. One vice president said that there had been fift fifteen een sig signifi nifican cantt change changess in 2005– 2005–200 2006, 6, of whi which ch eig eight ht were were use userrgenerated. Youthwant.com continuously installs web toolkits on the website to facilitate user innovation and communication in acc accord ordanc ance e wit with h the pri princi nciple ple of  of von von Hippe Hippell (2005 (2005c) c).. The There re are als also o comple com plemen mentar tary y inc incent entive ive progra programs ms in ret return urn to enc encour ourage age the use of web toolkits such as coupons, access privilege, and member fee premiu pre miums. ms. Use Users rs of You Youthw thwant ant.co .com m are likely likely to be lis listed ted in the hit parade if they are popular so to receive many good guy messages fromothe fromothers rs,, or to betagg betagged ed as best best frie friend ndss by ma many ny othe others rs beca becaus use e of contributions to the community through solving problems of  others or sharing ideas, files and web templates. This This study study defi defines nes the lead use userr cha charac racter terist istics ics as bei being ng at the leading edge of the market trend and benefiting from selfinnovation innova tion under the associated associated incent incentive-m ive-market arketing ing programs programs (von Hippel, 2005a 2005a). ). Users  Users on the “top 100 hit parade” may not only be highly popular but also may appear to be the lead users by (1986).. being ahead of the market trend as claimed by  von Hippel (1986) Hence, this study examines whether users in the hit parade are likelyto likelyto beleadusersand put puttin ting g for forthmoreeffor thmoreeffortt aschang aschange e age agents nts when facing the website’s incentive programs of innovation than general users. That is to say, we will examine whether separating activists from the general users will help Web 2.0 businesses target their innovative users. Therefore, this study articulates the followingtwo follo wingtwo hypot hypotheses,compari heses,comparing ng leaduser chara characteri cteristics( stics(von von Hippel, 2005a) 2005a) between hit parade users and general users. Hypothesis 1.   Users in the top 100 hit parade are more likel likely y to be at the leading edge of a market trend than general users. Hypothesis 2.   Users Hypothesis Users in the top 100 hit para parade de have greater greater expected benefits from innovation than general users.

(2003)  f ound Franke and Shah (2003) f  ound that lead users in the community were more active, participative and responsive to activities. Sawhney et al. (2005) a (2005) also lso argued that incentive programs such as rewarding rewar ding for exper experience ience shari sharing, ng, opinion opinion feedback, feedback, and idea ideass contes tests ts canhelp firms firms rec recogn ognize ize lead lead use users rs andenhan andenhance ce the custom customer er Rogers’’ argum arguments ents (1995 (1995)), the inc incent entiveto iveto the loyalty. loya lty. Accor According ding to Rogers changeagentis cha ngeagentis imp import ortantin antin develo developin ping g a need need of cha changeand ngeand infl influuencing clients’ innovation-decision process. Therefore, this study articulates an incentive hypothesis to lead users, comparing the induced effort by incentive programs between general users and hit parade users. Hypothesis3.   Users Hypothesis3. Users in thetop 100hit par paradeare adeare mor more e respon responsiv sive e to incentive programs than general users.

Another focus is whether the add-on toolkits in the website will attract innovative users’ participation. According research of 

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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 Table 1 Analog between innovation toolkits and web 2.0 contexts.

von Hippel’s toolkits

Web 2.0 contexts

Associated web technologies

Associated web applications

Tria Tr iall an and d er erro rorr

Ligh Li ghtw twei eigh ghtt pr prog ogra ramm mmin ing g mo mode dels ls

AJAX AJ AX,, Ja Java vaSc Scri ript pt,, jQ jQue uery ry,, XM XML, L, Wi Widg dget et

Solution space

Social networking

Blogs, REST, RSS, Tagging

Friendliness

Customization/personalization

AJAX, CSS, jQuery

Module library

Collective intelligence

Open APIs, Tagging, WiKi

Person Pers onal al se setu tup/ p/ho home mepa page ge/b /bac ackg kgro roun und/ d/vi visi siti ting ng card/shortcut,, etc. card/shortcut FAQ, customer service email box, guestbook, chat room, messaging, bookmarking, Internet/mobile Internet/mob ile phone GUI/visualized interfaces, interactive click-through, personal homepage Plug in and play JavaScript/flash programs on editing of text and multimedia

Tran Tr ansl slat atio ion n

Cros Cr osss-pl plat atfo form rm in inte tegr grat atio ion n

Open Op en AP APIs Is,, Op Open enID ID,, RE REST ST,, SO SOA, A, SO SOAP AP,, XM XML L

Cyr (200 (2008) 8)   and   Chai and Kim (2010), (2010),   trus trustt made online users invulnerable toward risk of technological innovation. Ability and predictability possessed by online users will enhance their trust Karaha ahanna nna,, & Str Straub aub,, 20 2003 03). ). Franke Franke and on onl online ine activi activitie tiess (Gefen, Gefen, Kar Shah (2003) a (2003) and nd Hienerth  Hienerth (2006) (2006) a  argued rgued that lead users are more likely to have higher skills to test the prototypes and develop new techniques techni ques in util utilizing izing vende venders’ rs’ prod products. ucts. Addi Additiona tionally, lly,   Nonaka (1994) emphasizes (1994)  emphasizes the positive role of trust in knowledge sharing. Thus, this study expects that innovative online users with higher level of trust attributed to their higher degree of capabilities will increase their willingness of knowledge sharing in web spacethrough opera operatinginnovativ tinginnovative e funct functions ions and toolkitsprovided toolkitsprovided by the website. Therefore, this study develops five hypotheses as follows to test the efficacy of add-on web toolkits. Hypothesis 4.   Innov Hypothesis Innovati ative ve use users rs are mor more e likely likely to man manipu ipulat late e the “trial-and-error” toolkits than the general users. Hypothesis 5.   Innov Hypothesis Innovati ative ve use users rs are mor more e likely likely to man manipu ipulat late e the “solution space” toolkits than the general users. Hypothesis 6.   Innov Hypothesis Innovati ative ve use users rs are mor more e likely likely to man manipu ipulat late e the “user-friendly” toolkits than the general users. Hypothesis 7.   Innov Hypothesis Innovati ative ve use users rs are mor more e likely likely to man manipu ipulat late e the “module library” toolkits than the general users. Hypothesis 8.   Innov Hypothesis Innovati ative ve use users rs are mor more e likely likely to man manipu ipulat late e the “innovation translation” toolkits than the general users.

Finally,the lastfocus is wheth Finally,the whether er the mani manipulat pulation ion of tool toolkitswill kitswill support suppo rt users to achiev achieve e innov innovation ationss and comm communicat unication, ion, and then Beusca scart rt and Mel Mellet let (20 (2008) 08) claim laimss that garner benefi benefits ts thems themselves elves.. Beu the emerging important business model of Web 2.0 is a marketing approach attributed to the scalable social networking by means of  int intera eracti ctive ve ser servic vices,whichare es,whichare sim simila ilarr to vonHippe vonHippel’stool l’stoolkit kitss in the Tabl Table e 1 provi rovide ded d by th the e We Web b 2. 2.0 0 site sitess them themse selv lves es or by some some othe otherr media agencies. However, there are questions about their equivalence and scalability demanding efficiency measures. Smith measures.  Smith and Rogers (2008) a (2008)  and nd Gardner  Gardner (2008) (2008) a  also lso found the unequal usage of Web 2.0 soc social ial net networ workin king g too tools. ls. Con Conseq sequen uently tly,, acc accord ording ing to the Equal Compensation Principle (Milgroms (Milgroms & Roberts, 1992), 1992), either  either the marginal rate of return to the innovative users from manipulation tion spe spent nt in eac each h of thefive too toolki lkits ts mus mustt be equ equal al or signifi significan cant, t, or thetoolkit thetoolk it wit with h theloweror non non-si -signi gnifica ficant nt mar margin ginal al rat rate e of ret return urn receives no time or attention. Thus, the research hypothesizes: Hypothesis 9.   Manip Manipulati ulating ng the add-on web toolkit toolkitss by users facilitates them to be at the leading edge of innovation diffusion significantly. Hypothesis 10.   Manip Manipulati ulating ng the add-on web toolk toolkits its by users facilitates them to benefit from innovations significantly. Hypothesis 11.   Manip Manipulati ulating ng the add-on web toolk toolkits its by users facilitates them to participate in the incentive program significantly.

Person Pers onal al/p /pub ubli licc pl plat atfo form rm fo forr sh shar arin ing g te text xt,, games, and multimedia

Initiating Incentive Programs

Finding the Innovative Users:  Hypotheses 1-3 Supporting Toolkits:  Hypotheses 4-8 Innovative Users Getting Benefit:  Hypotheses 9-11 Fig. 1.   Research framework. framework.

The hypotheses are synthesized in Fig. in  Fig. 1, 1,   which illustrates an exploratory explorato ry mecha mechanism nism of socia sociall netwo networking rking websi website: te: by insta installing lling incentive incent ive programsto programsto attract attract userparticip userparticipationand ationand user-genera user-generated ted content, the innovative users emerge quickly and find themselves on the top 100 hit parade list (as argued by Hypotheses 1–3). Moreover, the innovative users are more likely to manipulate the assistant web toolkits (as claimed by Hypotheses 4–8) to achieve person per sonal al innova innovatio tion n (asHypothese (asHypothesess 9–1 9–10) 0) as wel welll as to ben benefitfrom efitfrom the incentive program of marketing strategy (as Hypothesis 11).  3.2. Measurements

For measuring the innovation, diffusion and toolkit manipulation behavior, this study designed a questionnaire containing A). ). thirty-nine items on a 1–7 Likert scale (see details in  Appendix A The firs firstt six ite items ms mea measur sure e theuser’schara theuser’scharacte cteris ristic tic of lea leadin ding g edg edge, e, while the next three items measure the user’s expected benefits according to  to   von Hippel’s lead user theory (1986, 2005a). 2005a).  All the nine items concerning the lead users of web community are similarto the questi questionsdesign onsdesigned ed for a spo sportscommu rtscommunit nity y by Frank Franke e and Shah (200 (2003) 3).. Bes Beside ide the lea lead d use userr cha charac racter terist istics ics,, thi thiss stu study dy con consid sid-ersthe inn innova ovativ tive e use user’srole r’srole of cha changeagentand ngeagentand int interm ermedi ediarythat arythat facilitate innovation diffusion (Rogers, (Rogers, 1995; Stewart & Hyysalo, 2008). 2008 ).   Hence, the next six items measure the diffusion behavior, which we think is the user’s response to the firm’s incentive programs of marketing, including innovativeness, expertise, participation, information exchange, and influence (Roehrich, ( Roehrich, 2004; Rogers, 1995). 1995). In  In addition, this study adapted from   von Hippel’s (2005c) p (2005c)  previous revious work and articulated 24 items for measuring the efficacy of the toolkit manipulation. The measuremen measurementt of tria trial-and l-and-erro -errorr toolk toolkit it emphasizes emphasizes the effectiveness of customization, testing, pre-viewing, and learning processes on the web community after users have chosen specific toolkits such as AJAX, Widget construction programs, and templates to change their personal sites. The solution space focuses on accessibil access ibility,interacti ity,interaction, on, and responsiven responsiveness ess of sugges suggested ted answe answers. rs.

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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 Table 2 The profile of respondents. respondents.

 Table 4 Reliability and validity of measurement.

Characteristics

Percentage (%)

Gender (male vs. female) Age (20–29) Education (college) Occupation (student) Membership (free member) Disposable income (<US$ 300) Internet retention time (5 h per day) Stickiness on Youthwant.com (2 h per day) Main inte interest restss on the webs website ite (leis (leisure ure and ente entertain rtainment ments) s)

34.2 vs. 65.8 51.2 53.6 51.1 59.1 54.8 60.7 54.4 31.8

The measu measuremen rementt of user friend friendlinessprimaril linessprimarily y exami examines nes fami familiarliarity, operational simplicity, and meaningfulness of instructions for web information exploration. These questions examine the openness, freedom, plenitude, flexibility, and accessibility of resources from fro m thewebsi thewebsite te by chec checkin king g the ava availa ilabil bilityof ityof reu reusab sable le too tools,prols,programs,and gra ms,and tem templa plates tes.. Fin Finall ally, y, the las lastt gro group up of que questi stions ons mea measur sures es innovation translation and focuses on the realization of user creativity on the website by looking at the fulfillment of innovative ideas and the replication of innovation by others. 4. Data collection, collection, analysis, and illustration illustration

The researchers set up a questionnaire investigation homepage and conducted the survey through the Youthwant.com bulletin during three weeks in September 2007. To survey the behavior of  general users, the researchers posted an invitation message on the announcemen annou ncementt bulle bulletin tin to reques requestt users to answe answerr the questionnaire. On the other hand, in order to exclude general users, the researchers sent invitation emails to request top 100 hit parade users’ responses. By convenience sampling, the researchers collected 347 valid responses from the top 100 hit parade and 448 responses from general users after excluding duplicate answers by checking IP addr addresses. esses.   Table Table 2   shows the chara characteri cteristics stics of  respondents. They are in accordance with the target market of  Youthwant.com. Most of them are college students or graduates, social soc ially ly net networ worked ked wit with h fri friend ends, s, and the they y spe spend nd at lea least st two hou hours rs Sharma, a, 1996 1996), ), perdayonthewebsite.Afterconductingpowertest(Sharm the researchers demonstrated the sample size is large enough. The si sizeof zeof 795 795 is grea greate terr than than all all th the e requ requir irem emen ents ts ofthe powe powerr of 0. 0.95 95,, as demonstrated in Table in  Table 3. 3. Table 4 s hows the reliability and validity of measurement. All 4  shows CR (construct reliability) values (Bagozzi (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988 1988)) and Cronbach ˛  values are higher than 0.7, thus representing good reliability of  measurement (Sharma, (Sharma, 1996 1996). ). In  In addition, we verify the validity of question items of each construct by applying CFA (confirmative factor analysis) with AMOS 17.0 statistical software. Most factor loadings have significant non-zero values greater than 0.71, which indicate indica te excell excellent ent measu measuremen rementt quali quality ty (Hair,Anderson,Tatham,& Black, 2006). 2006). The  The AVE (average variance extracted) values, another  Table 3 Power test for measurement measurement construct.

Measurement construct

Required sample size

Innovative user characteristic Leading edge Benefit substantially Incentive program

67 200 369

Meas Me asur urem emen entt co cons nstr truc ucts ts

532 461 611 199 400

Factor loadings

Cronbach’ s AVE ˛/CR values values

Leading edge

1 2 3 4 5 6

0.70 0.80 0.73 0.72 0.73 0.74

0.87/0.91

54% 54

Benefit substantially

7 8 9

0.72 0.68 0.77

0.73/0.83

53%

Incentive program

10 11 12 13 14 15

0.73 0.81 0.81 0.82 0.83 0.83

0.89/0.90

65%

Trial-and-error toolkit

16 17 18 19 20

0.96 0.96 0.87 0.88 0.81

0.96/0.87

81%

Solution-space toolkit

21 22 23 24 25

0.81 0.78 0.89 0.90 0.75

0.92/0.88

68%

User-friendly toolkit

26

0.83

0.91/0.89

65%

27 28 29 30

0.88 0.85 0.74 0.72

31 32 33 34 35 36

0.80 0.82 0.86 0.91 0.89 0.82

0.94/0.91

73%

Innovation translatable toolkit 37 38 39

0.88 0.92 0.75

0.91/0.82

73%

Module library toolkit

criteria for measuring validity, are greater than 50% (Fornell (Fornell & Larker, 1981). 1981). The  The research constructs can reflect most variance of measurements (Hair (Hair et al., 2006 2006), ), and  and question items are highly correlated with their corresponding constructs. 4.1. Comparison of innovative characteristics between u users sers

Using Using thefactor thefactor sco score re wei weight ghtss der derive ived d from from CFA CFA,, theresearch theresearchers ers calculate the mean factor calculate factor score scoress of innova innovative tive chara characteri cteristics stics.. Then, the researchers researchers apply t --test test to compar compare e differ differenc ence e bet betwee ween n the top 5,,   all 100 hit parade users and general users. As shown in  Table 5 mean scores of innovative characteristics of the top 100 users are sign signifi ifica cant ntly ly hi high gher er.. Thus Thus,, user userss li list sted ed in th the e to top p 100 100 hi hitt pa para rade de ar are e more innovative, innovative, likely to be lead users by von Hippel definiti definition, on, and centers of innovation diffusion.  Table 5 Differences of innovative characteristics between users.

Dependentt vari Dependen variable abless

Toolkits manipulation importance Trial and error Solution space Friendliness Module library Translation

Questi Ques tion on items

Leading edge Benefit substantially Incentive program ***

Mean Mea n

 

Top 100 use users rs

Genera Gen erall use users rs

4.39 3.50 3.91

3.96 3.26 3.57

t -value -value   p-value

6.66 4.19 4.57

0.000*** 0.000*** 0.000***

Significance at 1% level.

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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C.-L. Hung et al. / International Journal of Information Management  xxx  xxx (2010) xxx–xxx  Table 6 Preference differences of manipulating toolkits between users.

Depe pende ndent nt va varia riable bless De

Trial and error Solution space Friendliness Module library Innovation translation * **

Mean Mea n

t -value -value   p-value

 

Top 100 us users ers

Genera Gen erall use users rs

3.95 4.24 4.64 4.74 4.06

3.73 4.06 4.51 4.45 3.84

0.013* 0.011* 0.053 0.000*** 0.001**

2.49 2.56 1.91 4.15 3.19

Significance at 5% level. Significance at 1% level.

7

a negative effect on participating in incentive programs for innovative users. The reason could be the innovative users have higher lev level el of webskill webskillss andfeel no cha challe llengeand ngeand com compar parati ative ve advant advantage age to respond to the incentive progr program am while operating operating on a simple interface. 5. Findings and discussion

The case of Youthwant.com supports most of the hypotheses of  Table le 8. Acco ccordi rding ng to Hyp Hypoth othese esess 1–3, 1–3, tho those se th this is stud study,as y,as show shown n in Tab

scoresof pre prefer ferenc ence e arehighe arehigherr Asshown in Table Asshown Table 6, all themean scoresof than tha n the mid middle dle value value 3.5 3.5,, reg regard ardles lesss of use userr typ types, es, whi which ch ind indica icates tes all users like to use add-on web toolkits. Moreover, the innovative tive use users rs rev reveal eal a sig signifi nifican cantt hig higher her inc inclin linati ation on to ma manip nipula ulate te web toolkits than the general ones, with the exception of user-friendly toolkit. Next,, this study explores the importan Next importance ce of each toolkit in achiev ach ieving ing the exp expect ected ed ben benefit efitss and exa examin mines es whe whethe therr eac each h toolki too lkitt has equ equiva ivalen lentt effi efficac cacy y in ins inspir piring ing use users rs to inn innova ovate te and diffu diffuse se the innov innovation ations. s. With innovati innovative ve chara characteri cteristics stics as

who are highly and popular users in the top 100 hit parade are likely to be active lead users and diffusionists or diffusion catalysts. Therefore, the web community operator should pay close attention to the browsing behaviors of this kind of users as well as their innovative ideas and constructive suggestions. Hypoth Hyp othese esess 4–8 claim that that the inn innova ovativ tive e users users are more more inc inclin lined ed to ma manip nipula ulate te too toolki lkits ts tha thatt fac facili ilitat tate e users’ users’ inn innova ovatio tion n and communication, with the exception of user-friendly toolkit. This is maybe may be bec becaus ause e the inn innova ovativ tive e users’ users’ flau flaunti nting ng in answer answers, s, or use userrfriendly toolkit has become a must-have and must-use in the age of Web 2.0. The dat data a par partia tially lly suppor supportt Hyp Hypoth othese esess 9–1 9–11, 1, which which arg argue ue about about theefficacy theeffica cy of too toolki lkits ts to achiev achieve e use userr ben benefit efits. s. Onl Only y tri trialal-and and-er -error ror web toolkit is critically important for both types of users to obtain benefits. Such toolkits as AJAX, XML, JavaScript, and Widget that support suppo rt light lightweightprogram weightprogramming ming are helpful helpful to bothtypes of users in obta obtaining ining personal and incentive incentive program program benefits. Another

dependent depend ent variab variables les,, the res resear earche chers rs con conduc ductt thr three ee mul multip tiple le regression analyses stepwise entering five toolkits as independent variables. Table howss theregres theregressio sion n coe coeffic fficien ients ts andthe ass associ ociate ated d sigsigTable 7 show nificances. Only one toolkit, that is, the trial-and-error toolkit, is significant for both types of users. To the innovative users, manipulating the module library is significantly important to be at the leading edge, obtain benefits, and participate in the incentive program. However, such toolkit has no advantage to general users. The solution space toolkit is valuable for both innovative users and general ones to be at the leading edge of innovation because of quickly obtaining operation hints. The general users like the innovation translation toolkit as they can copy or transfer others’ innovations without prohibitive transformation costs to help them being at the leading edge and participate in the incentive program. However, the innovative users do not appreciate this toolkit.

influential toolkit is the module library, which is only valuable to innova inn ovativ tive e use users rs bec becaus ause e the they y usu usuall ally y lik like e to coo cooper perate ate wit with h peers, peers, often using others’ modules. Contrarily, the innovation translation toolki too lkitt is onl only y benefic beneficial ial for gen genera erall use users rs in par partic ticipa ipatin ting g inc incent entive ive programs, because they may be usually unskilled and hence prefer to share other others’ s’ innova innovation tionss witho without ut prohi prohibiti bitive ve trans transform formation ation costs. The solution space toolkit is useful for both types of users in being at the leading edge, because it gives users hints and answers for adaptation, learning, and quick troubleshooting. Thereby, the firm should emphasize the solution toolkit as not only a promotion tool but also a user guide when launching new innovative ser servic vices. es. The use user-f r-frie riendl ndly y pro proper perty ty see seems ms to be sig signifi nifican cantly tly more more import imp ortant ant to genera generall users users tha than n to the inn innova ovativ tive e one oness bec becaus ause e the latter may have better web skills or prefer challenges. This result is consistent with the unsupported Hypothesis 6. Consequently, if the operation environment is too user-friendly to discriminate the skilled users from the tyros, the skillful innovative users may

The user-friend user-friendly ly toolk toolkit it thro throws ws up an intri intriguing guing resul result. t. Accor Accordding to Table to Table 6, 6, the preference of adopting this kind of toolkit is not significantly different between the two types of users. However, in in Table  Table 7 7,,  the user-friendly interface has positive effect on being at the leading edge of innovation for general users, while it has

not outperform the general ones in participating in the incentive programs. This study further articulates articulates a posit positive ive feedback loop of Web 2.0 business model into Fig. into  Fig. 2, 2,   which emphasizes user participation with efficient incentives and discriminatory assistant toolkits.

***

Significance at 0.1% level.

4.2. Comparison of the efficacy of add-on web too toolkits lkits between users

 Table 7 Importance of toolkits to achieve user benefits.

Independent variables

Trial and error Solution space Friendliness Module library Innovation translation Adjusted  R-square of multiple regression * Significance at 5% level. ** Significance at 1% level. *** Significance at 0.1% level.

Dependent variables Bein Be ing g at th the e le lead adin ing g ed edge ge

Obta Ob tain inin ing g si sign gnifi ifica cant nt be bene nefit fitss

Part Pa rtic icip ipat atin ing g in in ince cent ntiv ive e pr prog ogra ram m

Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss

Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss

Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss

0.218*** *

Gene Ge nera rall us user erss 0.284*** *

0.148 0.017 0.139* 0 .0 0 8

0.144 0.156** −0.003 0.196**

0 0..352

0.481

0.321***

Gene Ge nera rall us user erss 0.355***

0.022 0.013 0.160** −0.033

0.081 0.055 0.075 0.019

0.33

0.463



0.565***  

 

Gene Ge nera rall us user erss

0.044 0.198** 0.285*** −0.056

0.609*** 0.055 −0.047 −0.084 0.176**

0.516

0.564



Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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 Table 8 Illustration of findings.

Hypotheses

Descriptions

Tentative results

Hyp ypo oth the e sis sis 1 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 2 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 3 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 4 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 5 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 6 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 7 Hypo Hy poth thes esis is 8 Hypothes Hypo thesis is 9

Use rs rs in th the e to top p 10 0 hit parade ar e mo re re li like kely ly to be at th the e le lea adi din ng e dg dg e th an an ge ne ner al al use rs rs . User Us erss in th the e to top p 10 100 0 hi hitt pa para rade de ha have ve gr grea eate terr ex expe pect cted ed be bene nefit fitss fr from om in inno nova vati tion on th than an ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. User Us erss in th the e to top p 10 100 0 hi hitt pa para rade de ar are e mo more re re resp spon onsi sive ve to th the e in ince cent ntiv ive e pr prog ogra ram m th than an ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss ar are e mo more re li like kely ly to ma mani nipu pula late te th the e “t “tri rial al-a -and nd-e -err rror or”” to tool olki kits ts th than an th the e ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss ar are e mo more re li like kely ly to ma mani nipu pula late te th the e “s “sol olut utio ion n sp spac ace” e” to tool olki kits ts th than an th the e ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss ar are e mo more re li like kely ly to ma mani nipu pula late te th the e “u “use serr-fr frie iend ndly ly”” to tool olki kits ts th than an th the e ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss ar are e mo more re li like kely ly to ma mani nipu pula late te th the e “m “mod odul ule e li libr brar ary” y” to tool olki kits ts th than an th the e ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Inno In nova vati tive ve us user erss ar are e mo more re li like kely ly to ma mani nipu pula late te th the e “i “inn nnov ovat atio ion n tr tran ansl slat atio ion” n” to tool olki kits ts th than an th the e ge gene nera rall us user ers. s. Manipula Man ipulating ting the addadd-on on web toolk toolkits its by user userss facil facilitate itatess them to be the lead leading ing edge of inno innovati vation on diffu diffusion sion signi significan ficantly. tly.

S up uppor t Supp Su ppor ortt Supp Su ppor ortt Supp Su ppor ortt Supp Su ppor ortt No Supp Su ppor ortt Supp Su ppor ortt Partially Part ially Supp Support ort

Hypoth Hypo thes esis is 10 Hypothes Hypo thesis is 11

Mani Ma nipu pula lati ting ng th the e ad addd-on on we web b to tool olki kits ts by us user erss fa faci cili lita tate tess th them em to be bene nefit fit fr from om in inno nova vati tion onss si sign gnifi ifica cant ntly ly.. Manipulating Manipula ting the addadd-on on web toolk toolkits its by user userss facil facilitate itatess them to par particip ticipate ate in the incen incentive tive prog program ram sign significa ificantly. ntly.

Part Pa rtia iall lly y Su Supp ppor ortt Partially Supp Partially Support ort

Manipulating Add-on Web Toolkits

+

Maintain the efficacy of toolkits on trialability trialabilit y, solution, and module

+

Benefiting from Innovation and Communication

+

Incentive Program of Communication and Innovations

Enhance the power of toolkits on trialability, solution, module, and translation +

Being Innovative Users

Track, motivate, and screen the activists in the campaign

Fig. 2.   A positive feedback loop of innovations and communication through users.

Installing user discriminating Installing discriminating mechanisms mechanisms such as the top hit parade par ade is hel helpfu pfull in ide identi ntifyi fying ng inn innova ovativ tive e use users rs and val valuab uable le inn innoovations. In addition, providing toolkits can also screen out and support innovative users. Moreover, according to the Equal Compensation pensat ion Princ Principle iple (Milgr Milgroms oms & Rober Roberts, ts, 1992 1992), ), thefirm cou could ld only only maintain certain toolkits to address the benefit of certain type of  users if mark marketing eting resou resource rce is scare scare.. For examp example, le, providing providing toolk toolkits its of trial, solution, and modules to the innovative users can help to increase their incentive compatibility in participating in marketing programs. Thereby, the Web 2.0 business operators may gain increasing return of innovation mainly by the power of users. 6. Concl Conclusion usion 6.1. Impli Implication cationss to researc research h

This exploratory study of a Taiwan Web 2.0 community website comb combines ines   von Hip Hippel pel’s ’s lea lead d use userr the theory ory (19 (1986 86)),   Rogers’ communicat comm unication ion campa campaign ign (199 (1995) 5),,   and   von Hip Hippel pel’s ’s too toolki lkits ts approach (2005c) a (2005c)  and nd demo demonstra nstrates tes an effect effective ive strategy of running Web 2.0 businesses. The exploratory mechanism extends the original origi nal von Hippe Hippell theor theory y by initiatin initiating g incent incentive ive progr programs ams to att attrac ractt user user par partic ticipa ipatio tion n bey beyond ond mer merely ely rel relyin ying g on the fundam fundamenental dri drives ves of lea lead d use users rs to ins inspir pire e aut autono onomou mouss inn innova ovatio tions. ns. Bes Beside ides, s, thestudy thestud y als also o extend extendss thevalu thevalue e ofleadusertheor ofleadusertheory y from from thesour thesources ces of innovation to the communication mediators of innovation by motivating innovative users to customize, test, and share innovations. Moreover, this research finds that there are different effects of using innovation toolkits suggested by von Hippel under the Web 2.0 con contex text. t. This This res result ult enc encour ourage agess fur furthe therr res resear earch ch abo about ut the appropriateness of toolkits in other different situations. 6.2. Impli Implication cationss to practi practice ce

For the practice, this study verifies the efficacy of the top 100 hit parade parade,, in whi which ch hig highly hly active active use users rs con congre gregat gate, e, to dis discri crimin minate ate

innovativ innova tive e use users rs in a web com commun munity ity.. Kno Knowin wing g thi this, s, Web 2.0 bus busiinesses nes ses sho should uld ins instal talll inc incent entive ive mechan mechanism ismss to ins inspir pire e hig highly hly act active ive users. According to the research results, users in the top 100 hit parade reveal strong interests in using the add-on toolkits for personal uses and participating in marketing campaigns. When they create creat e novelinnovatio novelinnovations ns and vigorouslyshare vigorouslyshare them,they gainmore hits from others and thus higher ranks on the popularity list. The more mor e the their ir par partic ticipa ipatio tion, n, the hig higher her sat satisf isfact action ion and the mor more e varivariety of innovations will be generated. Therefore, providing toolkits to ass assist ist inn innova ovatio tion n may not onl only y inc increa rease se uti utilit lity y for those those who are willing to be on the leading edge, but the firm may also be able to leverage more user-generated innovations and communication in the strategic perspective. Moreover, this research specifies only three toolkits suggested by von Hip Hippel pel have efficac efficacy y for the inn innova ovativ tive e users users to sel selffinnova inn ovate. te. The res result ult can be helpfu helpfull for Web2.0 bus busine inesse ssess to ins instal talll right toolkits in identifying innovative users and facilitating their innovation and communication behavior. While each firm’s strategic map will be somewhat different, all firms should develop a deep understanding of what influential online online voi voices ces are say saying ing about about the them, m, ide identi ntify fy the mo most st rel releva evant nt ini ini-tiatives,evaluatetheir tiat ives,evaluatetheir poten potentialbusinessimpact,and tialbusinessimpact,and investheavily in themostpromi themostpromisin sing g one ones. s. Nev Nevert erthel heless ess,, Web2.0 bus busine inesse ssess mus mustt transform into a bottom-up culture, in which the best practices often are not what the management expects. The trial-and-error toolkit tool kit can help to foste fosterr such cultu culture. re. Trial Trial-and-and-errortools errortools suppo support rt lightweight programming for Web personalization, if the operator can further encourage proliferation of personalization, the knowledge about users’ preferences and lifestyles may be extracted to provide ideas beyond the management expects for product or service innovation. The open module toolkitacross is helpful facilitating creation of content orlibrary applications manyinand scatteredcoof  participants in the fashion of Wikipedia. However, Web 2.0 businesses still need to strengthen users’ incentives, such as bolstering the reputation of participants in relevant communities, reward-

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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ing enthusiasm, and acknowledging the quality and usefulness of  contributions. 6.3. Limitations and fu future ture research

Even though the mana manager ger of resea research rch case reveal revealed ed that most of important innovations came from users’ ideas, the research did not dir direct ectly ly eva evalua luate te the inn innova ovatio tion n per perfor forman mance ce of can candid didate ate lea lead d users as   von Hippel (1986, 2005a)   and some other researchers (e.g.   Frank Franke e & Sch Schrei reier, er, 20 2002; 02; Fra Franke nke & Sha Shah, h, 20 2003; 03; Hie Hiener nerth, th, 2006; Jeppesen, 2005; von Hippel & Katz, 2002) 2002 )  did. Rather, also according to the lead user theory, this study indirectly measures the users’ innov innovative ativeness ness by askin asking g for their self-r self-reflect eflection ion on attitude toward participating in innovative activities. Because of  the small sample of users’ constructive innovations and the inaccessible innovators, the researchers develop a modified research framework and actually seize the website operator’s real concerns about who the critical mediators are, what the efficient facilitators are, and how to motivate user-generated incremental innovations and mutual communications of innovation within the community. As a result, the researchers can only prove inclinations of  active users to be lead users and their stronger intentions of using toolkits. Anothe Ano therr limita limitatio tion n maybe thesamp thesample le ofyounggroup ofyounggroup.. TheInter TheInter-net undoubtedly plays as a platform for customer engagement in innovation (Sawhney (Sawhney et al., 2005), 2005),   and increasingly covers wider

9

demographics for social networking, such trends could be seen in Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube. Finally, all positive-mode investigated questions may result in anothe ano therr pro proble blem. m. Even Even tho though ugh mos mostt que questi stions ons referr referred ed to pre previo vious us important research in a consistent mode are easier to answer in thecase of a len length gthy y que questi stionn onnair aire, e, the rel reliab iabili ility ty maybe que questi stiononable able.. If th ther ere e is a ra rand ndom omiz ized ed mi mixt xtur ure e of a ro roug ughl hly y equa equall numb number er of  positive and negative questions, the measurement should be more reliable. Future research can confirm the Web 2.0 lead users by directly comparing the lead users’ innovation contribution with that of  generall users if traci genera tracing ng the correspond corresponding ing innovators innovators is possi possi-ble. Additionally, future research may target other types of Web businesses such as portals, file exchanges, and auctions, which focus on different kinds of user interactions. Different types of  Internet business may need to initiate different kinds of incentives for findi finding ng innovative innovative users and insta install ll effective types of  toolkits to support user participation in innovation and marketing communication. Furthermore, marketers in any industries where product or service innovation is a competitive differentiator may seriously serio usly consi consider der enlist enlisting ing users in the product-de product-develop velopment ment process.

 Appendix A. Measurements

Lead user characteristics 1. I am quicker in finding new functions or solutions on this website (youthwant.com) than others. 2. I am likely to try the new functions or solutions on this website. 3. I think I am usually at the leading edge on this website. 4. The current functions on this website cannot satisfy my new demands. 5. I am eager to obtain new functions for my favorites on this website. 6. I find the functional problems on this website earlier than others do. 7. I will obtain greater benefits if I use the new functions of this website earlier. 8. I will always feel good after I contribute ideas to the web master or other users. 9. I have modified or added source codes or modules to create new functions to achieve personal goals. Incentive program 10. I am a very active member of the community. 11. I get together with others online to provide opinions and solutions to problems. 12. I usually suggest innovative solutions to the community, which often considers my opinions. 13. I possess the expertise of web programming and Internet interaction skills. 14. I enjoy great popularity due to the incentive of community reciprocity. 15. I spent much time participating in online activities due to the community’s incentive design. Trial-and-error Trial-and-e rror toolkits 16. I can customize my personal profile by reconfiguring the background picture, color, or other predefined gadgets. 17. I can customize my personal profile by adding new elements to enhance the background picture, color, or other gadgets. 18. I can test my developing gadgets in my personal space of this website with no hazards. 19. I have learned new technical skills from developing web templates and personal widgets on this website. 20. I can easily and freely iterate the above four customization processes, e.g., reconfiguring reconfiguring,, developing, testing, and learning, on this website. Solution space toolkits 21. I can acquire solutions to personal problems through interactive functions of this website, such as email, bulletin board, chatting room, Q&A, etc. 22. I can easily make new friends or obtain help from others through the interactive functions of this website. 23. I usually get solutions from the quick response and troubleshooting troubleshooting provided by this website. 24. I think that the related website services are likely to solve user problems. 25. I think that this website usually solves user problems precisely. User-friendly toolkits 26. I think that the interactive functions of this website are plentiful and useful to me. 27. I think that the operation instructions of this website are simple and direct. 28. I think that the information exploration process of this website is very easy. 29. I think that it is always exciting for me to handle the community functions provided by this website. 30. I think that the interaction interface on this website is completely user-friendly. Module library toolkits 31. I usually obtain predefined templates to configure my favorites. 32. I usually obtain several available gadgets to use in my personal designs. 33. I can easily turn on or off, and upload or download, my personal functions and favorites on this website. 34. I think that the downloadable design modules on this website are diverse and flexible. 35. I think that the downloadable design modules on this website will speed up my application prototyp prototyping. ing. 36. I like the downloadable design modules on this website because they enable me to concentrate on my own innovation without complicated tasks. Innovation translation toolkits 37. I think that the related website services usually fulfill my specialized innovative activities. 38. I think that I usually realize and share my innovative ideas without difficulty on this website. 39. I think that it is easy to replicate others’ innovations based my own IT capability and the toolkits provided by the website.

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

 

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Chia-Liang Hung is an assi assistan stantt professo professorr of NationalChi NationalChi NanUniversity NanUniversity in Taiwan. Taiwan. His research interests cover the electronic commerce, industrial policy, and manManagement ement Review, agement agem ent of technolog technology. y. He has pub publishe lished d in   Asia Pacific Manag International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, and Evaluation and Program Planning .  Jerome Chih-Lung   Chou Chou is an ass assist istant ant pr profe ofesso ssorr of Hwa-Hs Hwa-Hsia ia Ins Instit titute ute of  Technolo Tech nology gy in Taiwan. Taiwan. His recent recent research researches es cover cover the electronic electronic commerce, commerce, entrepreneurship, entreprene urship, and management of technology. He has published in  Asia Pacific  Management Review.  Tse-Ping Dong  is  is an assistant professor of National Taiwan Normal University. His recent researches cover the intellectual capital, cultural creativity industry, and managementt of technology. He has published in  Industrial and Management Forum. managemen

Please cite this article in press as: Hung, C. -L., et al. Innovations and communication through innovative users: An exploratory mechanism of  social networking website.  International Journal of Information Management  (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003 doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.12.003

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