Abstract
Drawing on external ideas through crowdsourcing has become common practice for firms that seek to improve and extend their product portfolios. As these initiatives often address the users of products, it is essential for firms to recognize those attributes that determine these individuals' willingness to share their ideas. This study takes the example of the automotive industry to examine how three attributes of car drivers determine their sharing behavior – that is, altruism, psychological ownership of ideas, and trust in car manufacturers. Our findings suggest that trust and altruism strengthen idea sharing, while psychological ownership weakens it. Furthermore, we find that car drivers' perception of sharing‐related risk acts as an important boundary condition for these relationships.
Highlights
As part of the paradigm shift from closed to open innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), users have become a central source of ideas and an important factor for firms that seek to enhance their innovation processes (von Hippel, 2001; Balka et al, 2014)
Taking the example of the automotive industry, we, pose the following research question: What attributes increase or decrease product users’ willingness to share ideas in crowdsourcing? We argue that sharing is related to three dimensions – the individual’s personality, the idea itself, and the seeking firm – and we explore the role of three attributes that correspond to these dimensions: altruism, psychological ownership of ideas, and trust in the seeking firm
We examined how three attributes of car driving users, that is, altruism, psychological ownership of developed ideas, and trust in the seeking firm, influence their willingness to share their ideas with their car manufacturers
Summary
As part of the paradigm shift from closed to open innovation (Chesbrough, 2003), users have become a central source of ideas and an important factor for firms that seek to enhance their innovation processes (von Hippel, 2001; Balka et al, 2014). A success story in the automotive industry is Local Motors This car developer and manufacturer exclusively operates on an online platform to collaboratively ideate, design, develop, and manufacture open source cars with a large community of professionals that consists of designers, engineers, and car enthusiasts (King and Lakhani, 2013). While these professionals are fairly capable of developing feasible product ideas and willing to share their knowledge (Poetz and Schreier, 2012; Magnusson et al, 2016), their interests often go beyond those of the broader market demand. Regular car drivers may have ideas that
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