Lead user innovation and entrepreneurship: Analyzing the current state of research

Abstract

ABSTRACT User innovation and user entrepreneurship are established research subjects in businessmanagement literature. However, to date, prior research has not offered general, clear, and comprehensive evidence about how these two complementary phenomena are linked and, moreover, what is the role played by small- and medium-size enterprises in this relationship. We integrate bibliometric techniques to achieve a better and holistic understanding of prior research concerning these topics. Within this body of literature this article offers the first specific bibliometric study of user entrepreneurship and user innovation. Our findings indicate key prior research concerning these topics splits into four different clusters: (1) entrepreneurial marketing, customer orientation, and entrepreneur personality; (2) user knowledge and new ventures; (3) entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems; and (4) lead user innovation. Such clusters provide valid bases for exploring further research avenues, topics, and questions.