User involvement in context of innovation: user innovation

Abstract

“User” , as subject of studies after World War II, were frequently studied in 1980s in the field of Economics and Management as well. While in particular it was held in the Consumer Behaviour context, it was divided into subheadings according to the process it was included (such as purchase decision; Mittal, 1989; Slama and Tashchian, 1985; Smith and Bristor, 1994; cited in Michaelidou and Dibb, 2008) and each subheading had evaluated in its way. But there is a conflict about the involvement process in this context because the notion of consumer describes the subject as passive. In case, the main aim of this paper is to define “user” as an active agent by presupposition of user’s potentiality. In this context, the user involvement is studied in terms of innovation which is the intersection of management and new product development. The research is based on literature review and seeking for an answer of the reasons and fundamentals of user involvement in innovation process. The condition of user in terms of involvement is discussed in the light of the answers that we deduce from the literature review.
 Keywords: User involvement, innovation, user innovation.