Title: Commenting for new ideas: insights from an open innovation platform

Authors: Sabrina Adamczyk; Angelika C. Bullinger; Kathrin M. Moeslein

Addresses: Information Systems I – Innovation and Value Creation, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany. ' University of Pennsylvania, Organizational Dynamics, 3401 Walnut St Ste 328A, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ' Information Systems I – Innovation and Value Creation, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany

Abstract: As users increasingly demand sustainable products and services, companies react to this claim by establishing open innovation platforms. These platforms allow users to submit ideas and use community functionalities to mutually comment and evaluate their activities. Both submissions and comments by idea owners, community managers and peers hold considerable knowledge. This paper examines the content of comments provided on an open innovation platform for energy efficient solutions. Results show how idea owners, community managers and peers use comments in distinct ways. Descriptive statistics reveal that ideas, which receive most comments by each group, are judged highest in innovativeness by experts.

Keywords: open innovation platforms; ideas; community functionalities; commenting; innovativeness; comments; energy efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTIP.2011.044612

International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning, 2011 Vol.7 No.3, pp.232 - 249

Published online: 31 Dec 2011 *

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