Using an online community for vehicle design: project variety and motivations to participate

Abstract

Firms increasingly seek to use online communities as sources of ideas, innovations, and designs. However, many such open innovation efforts lack sustained participation and ultimately fail. This research sought to understand motivations to participate in a firm-hosted design community and how the nature of the design task influences sustained participation. From an inductive study of a leading vehicle design community, we found project variety—across two dimensions of project autonomy and project complexity—supported a range of motivations to participate and the social practice of vehicle design. We discuss implications of our study for research on online communities and for firms within the global vehicle industry.