Essays in user innovation

This doctoral thesis is comprised of three empirical studies that explore a broad set of questions related to the user innovation: its extent and importance to individuals, firms and the society; the process of innovation; and factors that influence user innovation and diffusion of user-developed solutions. The first study represents a novel approach to exploration of employees’ engagement in innovation within firms from a user innovation perspective. We contend and confirm that innovation proposals in an idea management system that embody job-related user innovations by employees have distinctive value for the firm in comparison to the other proposals in the system. We discuss the implication of this finding with respect to innovation management in firms – organizing to innovate with internal resources, and using idea management system to harness and improve user innovations by employees. In the second study we measure the extent of innovation activity and diffusion of patientdeveloped solutions among rare diseases patients. We also explore the differences of user innovation in this extreme need settings, and factors that influence patient innovation and diffusion. We find high levels of innovation activity among rare disease patients and caregivers, and positive impact of the patient-developed solution on the user’s quality of life. Also, we confirm the existence of a market failure associated with user innovation studies – patient developed solutions that are potentially useful to others with similar needs do not diffuse. We discuss our findings from the perspective of patient care, user innovation theory, health policy. The third study embodies a deeper examination of the user innovation and adoption processes. On the basis of multiple case-study analysis we map the dynamics of adopt-ordevelop problem solving process that the patients follow, and offer it as a framework against which policy interventions on patient innovation may be considered. In the second step we explore factors that influence adoption of patient-developed solutions among rheumatic diseases patients. The importance of this effort becomes clear when one considers safety issues related to the diffusion of untested solution within informal networks of peers, patients and caregivers. We discuss the importance of our findings for theory, practice, and health policy