Modeling Social Product Development Process, Technology, and Governance

Abstract

Social product development (SPD) is an open innovation model in which social technologies and social mechanisms are employed to mobilize individuals in ideation, development, and commercialization of new products. This model holds the promise of engaging a broad and varied community of individuals in innovation activities. However, SPD platforms have struggled to scale early successes and build momentum to become sustainable. To critically assess the viability and paths forward for SPD, we examine social innovation processes, technologies, and platform governance that underlie this open innovation model. We identify six process functions—social engagement, ideation, experiential communication, social validation, codevelopment, and cocommercialization—to model SPD. We examine how these functions are enabled or supported by social technologies and cogoverned by an innovation community, innovation sponsor, and partners in manufacturing and retailing. We assessed the proposed SPD model with case studies of two SPD platforms. This article contributes to the innovation process modeling literature a comprehensive, integrated model of SPD processes, technology, and governance. This holistic model provides a new framework for systematic investigations of SPD for further theorization and empirical study. The proposed model is sufficiently general yet grounded in the phenomenon to guide design, deployment, and governance of socially enabled open innovation.