How Do Patterns of Consumption and Communication Drive Transition from Product User to User Entrepreneur? The Case of an Online Community for Music Apps

Using a unique data set that links: 1) information on individual online purchases of applications produced by a company and its third-party developers, 2) information on individual participation in a firm-hosted developer online community and 3) information on all third-party created innovations, we provide fresh insights into how user entrepreneurship works. The mushrooming literature on user entrepreneurship offers explanations for why users contribute valuable innovation to a hosting firm’s product portfolio: perceived needs, abilities, and stimuli for intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are highlighted as well as various relational aspects. Yet, this literature tends to ignored explanations for users entrepreneurial behavior based on their consumption patterns. Does what and how much individuals consume influence their entrepreneurial intentions and behavior? In addition, only little research has demonstrated if explanations are different for creating a third-party user innovation for the platform vis a vis if this innovation is economically successful for the entrepreneur. We theorize and empirically test how both consumption and communication patterns of users influence their drive for creating third-party applications for the hosting firm to sell from its online platform.

Biography
Lars Frederiksen is Professor (mso) at Department of Business Administration, Aarhus University, Denmark where he leads the Innovation Management Group. He was awarded his PhD from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and hereafter worked for more than four years at Imperial College Business School, London. Lars specializes in the management of innovation and technology with particular emphasis on innovation strategies, knowledge creation and search, user innovation in communities, and innovation in project-based organizations. More recently Lars ventured into studying mobility of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial teams. Empirically, Lars focuses on industries such as software, roads and water, engineering consulting, and entertainment (i.e. music and film). Lars’ work appears in journals such as Organization Science, Academy of Management Journal, European Management Review, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Advances in Strategic Management, Industry and Innovation, Construction Management and Economics, and others.