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Organizations intend to achieve a high level of information systems flexibility and success. They plan information systems with multiple approaches and adopt different planning methodologies. A broad range of measurements is available in the literature to assess IS planning effectiveness and success. This study theoretically develops a causal model to assess and predict IS planning success, empirically validate the model, and simulate the empirically tested model to predict the "ends" and "means" of the IS planning. The Systems Dynamics approach is used to model and simulate the "ends" and "means" variables. The model represents the user involvement in IS planning and flexibility variables ("means") and IS success variables ("ends") in a framework. The questionnaire survey method is used to validate the model, and the survey was administered to 296 respondents from 42 organizations selected from eight different sectors. The survey results validate the existence of relationship between user involvement, flexibility, and IS success. The empirically validated model is used to predict flexibility and information systems success in the surveyed organizations.

Involving users in new product design and development is in itself not a new phenomenon. Academic research on the subject, however, is relatively new. Since this new millennium research on user involvement in innovations has multiplied, exhibiting that firms who actively involve users in their innovation process can benefit from this initiative, even though literature also warns us for relying too much and too actively on the participation of customers in innovation. However, research is mainly descriptive and explanatory of nature, and is seldom a prescription for firm managers on what to do should they decide to involve their customers in an innovation initiative.

This paper addresses this omission in literature and tries to give some first building blocks for a protocol for firms that want to involve their customers in innovations. This protocol will be the result of the author's further research on literature, previously executed projects by the author, expert interviews and a design and development process, in continuation of this paper.

Research on the lead user method has been conducted for more than thirty years and has shown that the method is more likely to generate breakthrough innovation than traditional market research tools. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper shows a detailed view on the broad variety of research on lead user characteristics, lead user processes, lead user identification and application, and success factors. The main challenge of the lead user method as identified in literature is the resource issue regarding time, manpower, and costs. Also, internal acceptance and the processing of the method have been spotted in literature, as well as the intellectual property protection issue. From the starting point of the initial lead user method process introduced by Lüthje and Herstatt (2004), results are integrated into a revisited view on the lead user method process. In addition, concrete suggestions for corporate realization options are given. The article closes with limitations and future research suggestions.

Innovation literature points directly to the Internet and the various form of online channels that companies can implemented as part of user involvement and empowerment in innovation. Yet implementing open innovation requires that online channels lead to user involvement. Online channels can be used for different purposes and will not by themselves create open innovation. This paper therefore analyzes the capability of companies to implement open innovation through use of online channels. The results show that there is a fine line between user involvement and customer orientation. Online channels do not necessarily empower users in the innovation process. In addition, the paper find that on B2C markets pioneering users hold an unrealized innovative potential that could benefit the diffusion of open innovation in these markets.

Innovation outcome measures are an important indicator of the economic potential of user involvement. Therefore, this study assesses empirically the relationship between users' knowledge as an input factor to innovation and firms' innovation success. The results strongly support the hypotheses: (i) that users have the potential to essentially improve the innovative performance of firms; (ii) that the method of interaction during the innovation process and the characteristics of involved users matter as well. The more firms make use of emphatic design and interact with advanced and lead users, the stronger is the relationship between access to users' knowledge and firm innovation success measured in sales of innovative products.

User driven innovation (UDI) is a popular term in policy and corporate circles. However, it is not clear exactly what UDI means and how such practices are used across the spectrum of companies and over the innovation life cycle. The present study compares 58 UDI showcases in Finnish companies in order to analyse the diversity of UDI practices and their evolution over time. We identify five main modes of UDI and show how the ways of using UDI develop over time in individual companies. In almost half of the examined cases, the dominant mode of UDI changes at least once, and in some cases, up to three changes in dominant mode are observed. We then proceed to identify six qualitatively different ways in which companies’ orientation to UDI evolves over time. The study has implications for innovation management and policy: It calls for greater attention to UDI diversity and particularly to the management and support of the continuity of UDI efforts.

Innovation studies have shown a growing interest in collaborative approaches, particularly user co-creation within innovation spaces. This qualitative study delves into the intricate dynamics of user involvement in fostering user-centric innovation within living labs. Through interviews with 22 informants across 14 countries from 2021 to 2022, this study presents a comprehensive framework outlining four pivotal phases of involvement: recruitment, motivation, co-creation, and relation. Through a nuanced exploration of the critical factors shaping each, the research illuminates ongoing debates and consensus surrounding the orchestration of the co-creation process and the vital role of living labs in cultivating innovations. By offering insights into the co-creation process with users, the study underscores the approaches adopted by living labs to achieve sustainable outcomes in user-centric innovation. These findings provide valuable knowledge that can aid practitioners in navigating challenges related to user engagement, thereby advancing user-centric innovation initiatives.

In an increasingly multilingual digital world, information management tools must support the simultaneous use and matching of multiple natural languages. A prerequisite for this is that the underlying database engine seamlessly processes multilingual data across languages. However, most natural language processing-based techniques have focused on developing monolingual matching algorithms, often ignoring context knowledge and external domain-based sources, which lead to incomplete and inaccurate matching results in a multilingual environment. The purpose of this study is to propose an adaptive semantic matching method with context knowledge and user involvement as two new dimensions for matching the semantically related entities ontologies. We present a comprehensive evaluation of our solution by applying it in a multilingual e-commerce platform case study, which performed well on matching accuracy.

User driven innovation (UDI) is a popular term in policy and corporate circles. However, it is not clear exactly what UDI means and how such practices are used across the spectrum of companies and over the innovation life cycle. The present study compares 58 UDI showcases in Finnish companies in order to analyse the diversity of UDI practices and their evolution over time. We identify five main modes of UDI and show how the ways of using UDI develop over time in individual companies. In almost half of the examined cases, the dominant mode of UDI changes at least once, and in some cases, up to three changes in dominant mode are observed. We then proceed to identify six qualitatively different ways in which companies’ orientation to UDI evolves over time. The study has implications for innovation management and policy: It calls for greater attention to UDI diversity and particularly to the management and support of the continuity of UDI efforts.

Innovation outcome measures are an important indicator of the economic potential of user involvement. Therefore, this study assesses empirically the relationship between users’ knowledge as an input factor to innovation and firms’ innovation success. The results strongly support the hypotheses: (i) that users have the potential to essentially improve the innovative performance of firms; (ii) that the method of interaction during the innovation process and the characteristics of involved users matter as well. The more firms make use of emphatic design and interact with advanced and lead users, the stronger is the relationship between access to users’ knowledge and firm innovation success measured in sales of innovative products.

Research on the lead user method has been conducted for more than thirty years and has shown that the method is more likely to generate breakthrough innovation than traditional market research tools. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper shows a detailed view on the broad variety of research on lead user characteristics, lead user processes, lead user identification and application, and success factors. The main challenge of the lead user method as identified in literature is the resource issue regarding time, manpower, and costs. Also, internal acceptance and the processing of the method have been spotted in literature, as well as the intellectual property protection issue. From the starting point of the initial lead user method process introduced by Lüthje and Herstatt (2004), results are integrated into a revisited view on the lead user method process. In addition, concrete suggestions for corporate realization options are given. The article closes with limitations and future research suggestions.