Getting Clear About the Role of Communities in Open Innovation

West, Joel; Lakhani, Karim R.

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

Getting Clear About the Role of Communities in Open Innovation

Industry & Innovation, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 223-231, April 2008

10 Pages Posted: 30 Jan 2011

See all articles by Joel West

Karim R. Lakhani

Harvard Business School - Technology and Operations Management Group; Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science; Harvard University - Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Date Written: February 12, 2008

Abstract

Research on open source software, user innovation and open innovation have increasingly emphasized the role of communities in creating, shaping and disseminating innovations. However, the comparability of such studies has been hampered by the lack of a precise definition of the community construct. In this paper we review prior definitions (implicit and explicit) of the community construct, and other suggestions for future research.

Keywords: Innovation communities, open source, open innovation, user innovation

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

West, Joel and Lakhani, Karim R., Getting Clear About the Role of Communities in Open Innovation (February 12, 2008). Industry & Innovation, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 223-231, April 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1751048