A descriptive study about user innovation in emerging marketsthe case of Colombia

Resumen

The concept of user innovation has gained increasing attention particularly in the field of innovation management (von Hippel, 1986; Shreier & Prugl, 2007). However, studies on user innovation in emerging countries are still limited (Van der Boor, Oliveira, & Veloso, 2014). In this sense, Mujika-Alberdi et al., (2015) pointed out the need to apply cross-industry scales in order to identify user innovators in emerging markets. Moreover, Flowers and Henwood (2010) mentioned the importance to undertake systematic reviews in the field of user innovation and observed a gap in the correct identification of innovative users (as cited in Mujika-Alberdi et al., 2015, p.108). In respond to that need, this thesis contributes to an increased understanding of user innovation, offering a systematic review of the user innovation literature and a validated scale to identify user innovators in an emerging country such as Colombia. This study is focused on individual user innovators. It has a cross-sectional quantitative design with a descriptive scope. The instrument has been validated and tested to a sample of adult consumers in Bogotá, the Capital of Colombia. A total of 433 questionnaires were analyzed. The findings established the existence of user innovators in Colombia; the percentage of user innovators found in this study coincides with the results of similar international studies. This thesis offers a reliable and valid scale to identify user innovators. Due to its cross-industrial approach, simplicity and practicality, this cross-market scale constitutes a valuable measurement instrument that can be applied to regions with a varied level of development in order to identify user innovators. The results of this study opened the avenue of a new research in the area of innovation management, user innovation, new product development process, co-creation, lead users, social innovation networks involving users as sources of innovation, user innovators, user entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The outcomes of this research constitute of a worthy starting point to collect and document data on the existence of user innovators and user innovation activities in Colombia.