Co-innovation: the role of online communities

Firms are developing online communities that facilitate online communication of their consumers for innovation purposes, such as new product development or virtual product design. This is forming co-innovation, innovation with end users. This study selects a case study of an online community to investigate the process of innovation on this community and what factors drive co-innovation. Based on social capital theory and a social media perspective, the research has a number of implications. The results of content analysis of this online innovation community show that the interconnectivity of users produces social capital, which in turn drives co-innovation. Integrating social capital theory and social media can develop a theoretical background in the area of co-innovation and suggest practical implications for the market. Drivers, process and types of co-innovation are discussed in this paper. Limitations and future research direction are suggested at the end of this research.