NDLI: The identification of lead users in social networks: An empirical investigation among young consumers

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Kratzer, Jan Lettl, Christopher
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	In den letzten Jahren hat das Lead User Konzept in der Forschung wie in der Praxis von Unternehmen große Aufmerksamkeit erfahren. Zwar gibt es bereits eine breite empirische Evidenz für das hohe Potenzial von Lead Usern für die Entwicklung neuer Produkte, so fehlt doch bisher ein umfassendes Verständnis, was Lead User eigentlich ausmacht und was es Konsumenten ermöglicht, zu Lead Usern zu werden. Unsere Studie greift diese beiden zentralen Problemstellungen auf und fokussiert dabei auf den sozialen Kontext, da individuelle kreative Prozesse in sozialen Netzwerken entstehen. Dies führt zu unserer Forschungsfrage: Haben Lead User eine spezielle soziale Position in sozialen Netzwerken? Die empirische Untersuchung an 34 Gruppen mit insgesamt 804 jungen Konsumenten brachte zwei generelle Erkenntnisse: 1. Lead User fungieren als Bindeglied zwischen verschiedenen Gruppen. Diese Position impliziert, dass die Reichweite und die Vielfalt des von ihnen erhaltenen und verteilten Wissens größer sind als bei anderen Nutzern. 2. Dieser Befund ist unabhängig vom Alter der Konsumenten. Die Ergebnisse unserer Studie liefern einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Entwicklung neuer Ansätze für die Identifizierung von Lead Usern in verschiedenen Settings, darunter Web-2.0-Communities.In recent years, the lead user concept has received a great deal of attention in both academic research and corporate practice. Despite broad empirical evidence regarding the high potential of lead users for new product development, we still lack a full understanding of their nature and what enables individual consumers to become lead users. Our study addresses these fundamental issues in lead user research and examines them from a perspective which focuses on the social context of individual consumers. This angle is promising and fruitful as individual creative processes are couched in social networks. As a result, our investigation is guided by the following research question: Do lead users have a distinct social ‘footprint’ in social networks? We chose 34 groups of 804 young consumers as the empirical setting for our study, which yields two general findings: First, lead users are positioned as bridging links between different clusters of people. Being in this ‘boundary-spanning’ position implies that lead users have a wider reach and variety in receiving and distributing information and knowledge. Second, this finding is robust across different age groups. The insights from our study contribute to developing new means of identifying lead users in different settings, including Web 2.0 communities.
Starting Page	83
Ending Page	109
Page Count	27
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00442372
Journal	Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft
Volume Number	81
Issue Number	5
e-ISSN	18618928
Language	English
Publisher	SP Gabler Verlag
Publisher Date	2011-08-30
Publisher Place	Wiesbaden
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Lead user Social networks Customer integration Interaction Hierarchical linear modelling Human Resource Management Management/Business for Professionals Accounting/Auditing Organization/Planning Production/Logistics/Supply Chain Business/Management Science
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Business and International Management Economics and Econometrics

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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