Abstract
This paper is the first to study the organizational behavior of “embedded lead users” (ELUs) – employees who are lead users of their employing firm’s products or services. Most of the literature views producers and users as organizationally distinct. Employing lead users is a novel mode for firms to absorb sticky user knowledge. We hypothesize that, due to their unique knowledge structures, ELUs excel in innovation-related behaviors within the firm, specifically in innovative work behavior, boundary spanning behavior, and customer orientation behavior. Using survey data from the mountaineering equipment industry (N=149), we can confirm these hypotheses. We find that lead userness, rather than product involvement or general use expertise, matter for innovation. Additional robustness checks all confirm our results. Managerial implications are discussed, as are directions for future research on this empirically important, but hitherto under-researched phenomenon.
Published Version
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