Current issues and research trends on open-source software communities

Open source software (OSS) projects represent a new paradigm of software creation and development based on hundreds or even thousands of developers and users organised in the form of a virtual community. The success of an OSS project is closely linked to the successful organisation and development of the virtual community of support group. This paper reviews different fields and research topics related to the OSS communities such as collective intelligence, the structure of OSS communities, their success, communities as virtual organisations, motivation, shared knowledge, innovation and learning. The main challenges, results obtained, and the knowledge areas are detailed for each topic.     

Automated feature extraction from social media for systematic lead user identification

Manufacturers strive to rapidly develop novel products and offer solutions that meet the emerging customer needs. The Lead User Method, emerging from studies on sources of innovation by the scientific community, offers a validated approach to identify users with innovation ideas to support rapid and successful new product development process. The approach has been more recently applied on online communities, where collection and analysis of rich user data are performed by expert practitioners. In this paper, feature extraction techniques are outlined, that enable automated classification and identification of lead users that are present in online communities. The authors describe two case studies to construct a classification model that is then used to identify online lead users for confectionery products, and to evaluate the outlined feature extraction techniques. The presented research points to opportunities in automated identification within the lead user approach that further reduce the resource and time costs.     

在线社群氛围对社群成员创新行为的作用机理研究

在线社群是企业创新活动的外部平台,探寻在线社群成员的创新动机是激发成员创新的关键。自我决定理论揭示了动机整合对行为的影响机理,指出外部环境对行为动机具有重要影响。鉴于此,运用实证研究方法,探索了在线社群氛围对成员参与创新行为的影响机理,发现在线社群支持氛围能够通过激发成员创新动机,进而促进其创新行为;成员因果定向水平显著调节在线社群氛围对成员创新动机的激发作用。     

Electronic word-of-mouth communities from the perspective of social network analysis

This paper is focused on the identification of influencers that can have an important impact over the decision-making of other users. For this purpose, a popular electronic word-of-mouth community like Ciao.com has been modelled as a social network. Using social network analysis techniques, the existence of influencers is justified by the power law distribution of user participation, and then they are identified using their topological features within the social network. The obtained results reveal that influencers are not determined by the number of performed reviews, but by the variety or scope of their performed reviews and their central position in the consumer network. The main contribution of this research is the identification of influencers based on the participation features of community users. As a difference to other studies, results are not based on surveys or opinions, but on the trace users leave when they post opinions, comments or scores.     

Customer preferences versus managerial decision-making in open innovation communities: the case of Starbucks

Customers can participate in open innovation communities posting innovation ideas, which in turn can receive comments and votes from the rest of the community, highlighting user preferences. However, the final decision about implementing innovations corresponds to the company. This paper is focused on the customers' activity in open innovation communities. The aim is to identify the main topics of customers' interests in order to compare these topics with managerial decision-making. The results obtained reveal first that both votes and comments can be used to predict user preferences; and second, that customers tend to promote those innovations by reporting more comfort and benefits. In contrast, managerial decisions are more focused on the distinctive features associated with the brand image.     

群智创新社区用户创新能力分析

群智创新社区是信息化条件下一种新的创新载体和媒介,可以为企业开展产品研发活动提供大量创新创意。为了更好地管理群智创新社区和用户,选取Local Motors社区作为研究对象,通过对不同用户行为进行数据采集与分析,运用聚类分析,从用户创新能力的角度,对不同创新能力的用户进行识别和划分,得出4种不同创新能力的用户类型,并对每种类型的用户进行了社区影响作用分析。科研成果既可丰富相关理论研究,也可为社区管理者提供实践方略与运营建议,有效提升社区管理水平与创新效率。     

Boundaries innovation through knowledge convergence-developing triad strategic communities

This paper discusses the process of implementing a micro innovation strategy for the development of the company’s mainstay business at present (incremental innovation) and a future growth strategy (radical innovation) in an age when there are dramatic changes in the environment and the future is hard to predict from the perspective of boundaries innovation that the company should implement based on the creation of boundaries knowledge and convergence knowledge. To implement knowledge convergence processes, outstanding companies dynamically establish various project teams and diverse mixed teams, which are strategic communities, as well as network organisations that integrate these teams and continually generate new boundaries innovation. The paper presents a theoretical framework, a detailed case study, and new insights regarding combination of exploration and exploitation through triadic strategic community formations for boundaries innovation strategies where dynamic strategic communities that overcome and transcend various boundaries create boundaries knowledge from various different types of knowledge and dynamically converge these different types of knowledge to create new convergence knowledge (such as the development of new products and services and the development of new business models, etc.).     

企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制:结构探索和量表开发

在相关文献梳理与分析的基础上,界定了企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的概念,通过半结构化访谈和开放式问卷调查等方式进行资料收集,并利用扎根理论进行编码,提炼出企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的结构维度。在此基础上,遵循量表开发的标准模式和范式,通过对Haier智家社群、小米社区和花粉俱乐部的问卷调查,实现了对企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制结构模型和测量量表的验证。研究发现:(1)企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制是一个多维度概念,包括问责机制、关系规范、社区激励和网络惯例四个维度;(2)经过探索性和验证性因子分析的检验,本文所开发的企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制测量量表具有较高的信度和效度。本研究不仅拓展了治理机制在企业虚拟品牌社区情境中的理论研究,实现了对企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制概念内涵和结构维度的探索,而且首次开发了企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的测量量表,为后续实证研究提供了有效测量工具。     

Altruistic behavior in a representative dictator experiment

We conduct a representative dictator game in which students and random members of the community choose both what charity to support and how much to donate to the charity. We find systematic differences between the choices of students and community members. Community members are much more likely to write in their own charity, community members donate significantly more ($17), on average, and community members are much more likely (32%) to donate the entire $100 endowment. Based on this evidence, it does not appear that student behavior is very representative in the context of the charitable donations and the dictator game.

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Consumers as Co-developers: Learning and Innovation Outside the Firm

This study describes a process in which a firm relies on an external consumer community for innovation. While it has been recognized that users may sometimes innovate, little is known about what commercial firms can do to motivate and capture such innovations and their related benifits. We contribute to strategy literature by suggesting that learning and innovation efforts from which a firm may benifit need not necessarily be located within the organization, but may well reside in the consumer environment. We also contribute to the existing theory on ‘user-driven innovation’ by showing what firms purposively can do to generate consumer innovation efforts. An explorative case study shows that consumer innovation can be structured, motivated, and partly organized by a commercial firm that organizes the infrastructure for consumers’ interactive learning in a public online domain.     

Consumers as Co-developers: Learning and Innovation Outside the Firm

This study describes a process in which a firm relies on an external consumer community for innovation. While it has been recognized that users may sometimes innovate, little is known about what commercial firms can do to motivate and capture such innovations and their related benefits. We contribute to strategy literature by suggesting that learning and innovation efforts from which a firm may benefit need not necessarily be located within the organization, but may well reside in the consumer environment. We also contribute to the existing theory on "user- driven innovation' by showing what firms purposively can do to generate consumer innovation efforts. An explorative case study shows that consumer innovation can be structured, motivated, and partly organized by a commercial firm that organizes the infrastructure for consumers' interactive learning in a public online domain.     

企业开放式创新社区在线用户贡献度研究

企业开放式创新社区是一种基于Internet的虚拟创新平台,能为企业创新提供丰富的用户生成内容UGC。为了帮助企业有效管理社区用户及其UGC,首先基于开放式创新理论,以星巴克的开放式创新社区为例,通过4个用户行为衡量指标（Ideas_submitted、Ideas_points、Comments_submitted和Comments_received）对用户样本进行聚类分析。然后,从用户对企业创新的贡献度和对社区互动的贡献度两个维度分析具有不同行为特征的在线用户对企业的贡献,进而得出6种不同类型的用户角色,以期在丰富理论研究的同时指导企业开放式创新社区的用户管理实践。     

创新扩散视角下众创设计社区参与者选择行为模型

首先从众创设计任务特点、成员自主性、成员异质性和社区结构层次性等方面说明社区参与人员任务选择过程具备创新扩散特点;其次,利用多主体建模与仿真研究方法对社区成员任务选择过程进行模拟;最后,以OpenIdeo社区为例进行三组仿真实验。结果表明：基于创新扩散理论的众创设计社区成员选择行为模型有效,同时,核心成员、任务复杂度及社区推荐对社区成员选择行为具有不同程度影响,研究成果为探索众创设计模式运行机制奠定了基础。     

用户价值共创过程中的创造力形成机制

基于社会认知理论,将"创造性自我效能感"和"积极情绪体验"作为中介变量,从用户心理的角度,深入分析了用户在线参与服务创新推动自身创造力提升的内在驱动机制,并构建了创新氛围、创造性自我效能感、积极情绪对用户创造力影响的概念模型。利用对307位有过或经常参与企业虚拟社区在线创新活动的用户进行问卷调查的数据进行实证研究。结果显示:用户在线参与企业虚拟社区服务创新过程中,宽松、自由、互动和充分授权的创新氛围对激发用户的"创造性自我效能感"、获得参与的"积极情绪体验"有显著的正向影响;"创造性自我效能感"对用户创造力的提升有显著的正向影响。     

The Organization of Innovation Brokers: An International Review

Research on networks of innovation has typically focused on relationships of competition and collaboration between firms in the network, sometimes extending the analysis to sources of new ideas such as universities. More recently, attention has been paid to the activities of intermediaries in such networks, which facilitate the innovation process, which are positioned between the sources and users of innovations. This paper focuses on the organization of a distinctive type of intermediary, which we have defined as an innovation broker, by providing an analysis of 10 case studies of organizations dedicated to innovation broking from around the world. Innovation brokers in our definition are organizations that are founded especially to undertake an intermediary role, rather than performing that role as a by-product of their principal activities. The results of this analysis suggest that the key role played by innovation brokers in the innovation process is the independent validation of new ideas, thereby facilitating diffusion. In order to carry out this task, innovation brokers are organized on a not-for-profit basis, typically as a public-private partnership. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for innovation theory and research in networks of innovation.     

The Organization of Innovation Brokers: An International Review

Research on networks of innovation has typically focused on relationships of competition and collaboration between firms in the network, sometimes extending the analysis to sources of new ideas such as universities. More recently, attention has been paid to the activities of intermediaries in such networks, which facilitate the innovation process, which are positioned between the sources and users of innovations. This paper focuses on the organization of a distinctive type of intermediary, which we have defined as an innovation broker, by providing an analysis of 10 case studies of organizations dedicated to innovation broking from around the world. Innovation brokers in our definition are organizations that are founded especially to undertake an intermediary role, rather than performing that role as a by-product of their principal activities. The results of this analysis suggest that the key role played by innovation brokers in the innovation process is the independent validation of new ideas, thereby facilitating diffusion. In order to carry out this task, innovation brokers are organized on a not-for-profit basis, typically as a public–private partnership. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for innovation theory and research in networks of innovation.     

社会资本视角下开放式创新平台用户行为研究

近年来，随着用户创新的不断发展，开放式创新平台越来越多地被企业用于收集用户创意。但目前，国内开放式创新平台实施状况并不理想，相关领域研究也存在空白。以美创平台为例，借助社会资本理论，采用社交网络分析方法对美创平台现有数据进行分析，挖掘平台认知性资本和结构性资本，并根据不同用户在交互过程中展现的特征（发布的创意数、对其他用户的评论数以及收到的评论数）对其进行分类。根据研究结果，将美创平台所有用户分成6类，并对美创平台提出相关建议，包括用户激励措施及管理策略。最后，对未来用户互动动机方面的研究进行了展望。     

The Role of the Health System in Health Biotechnology in Developing Countries

This paper examines the role of local health systems in developing countries in health biotechnology innovation. The heath systems encompass the final users of health biotechnology products and services. In innovation studies in general, users have been identified as playing vital roles as sources for innovation and in shaping the innovation process. It is therefore of interest to cast light upon the role of users in the health biotechnology innovation in developing countries. This paper briefly reviews literature on science and technology based health innovation in both industrialised and developing countries. It then examines to what extent the focus of developing countries is on their local health problems and explores the linkages between the organisations involved in research and development of health biotechnology products and services with the local health system, and thereby identifies the main roles of their own health systems in the innovation process. The paper bases this analysis on research on publication patterns and case studies on leading developing countries in health biotechnology and focuses particularly on health biotechnology development in Brazil, Cuba and India.     

社会资本与技术支持对学术虚拟社区知识共享的影响——基于科学网平台的知识共享要素分析

学术虚拟社区是广大学者和科研工作者进行知识交流与探讨的重要平台，也是学术碰撞和知识创新的新阵地。通过构建社会资本与技术支持对用户知识共享行为影响的理论模型，探讨社会资本（关系资本、结构资本、认知资本）和技术支持（感知有用性、感知易用性）对社区用户知识共享行为（知识共享质量和数量）的作用机理。结果表明，关系资本与结构资本分别对学术虚拟社区知识共享质量和数量具有显著正向影响，属于持续动力。伴随其它因素介入，认知资本对学术社区知识共享数量产生正向影响，技术支持对知识共享的影响具有显著差异，感知易用性对学术社区知识共享质量和数量均具有显著正向影响，而感知有用性对知识共享质量具有显著负向影响。基于此，提出社区管理者应采取措施拓展用户社会资本并加强平台技术支持，以实现学术虚拟社区可持续发展。     

创新创业社团高质量运行的关键要素调查与实证研究

近年来，各高校纷纷开设创新创业必修课程，双创社团高质量运行成为关注热点。基于生态系统理论与学习、行动、塑造三位一体的创新创业理论框架，通过问卷调查，实证研究创新创业社团高质量运行的影响因素并对相应机制进行深入分析。结果发现：创新创业社团高质量运行受到吸纳成员广度、学生自治程度、内容丰富程度、突出专业特色、教学配合紧密度5个因素的影响与共同作用；相比于研究生与已毕业人员，本科生更愿参加双创社团并且将社团活动丰富程度作为首要考虑因素。