Role of community in user innovation generation and diffusion—Focusing on non-brand communities in the mountain climbing market

• A model of user innovation (UI) diffusion focusing on community is proposed.
• Parameters are set for mountain climbing product market from 228 questionnaire data.
• Agent-based simulation for 4 types of communities is conducted.
• Larger community increases product purchase because of the increase of mass needs.
• Larger community decreases UI generation that means a cut of market inefficiency.

It is generally understood that manufacturers should exploit the innovation generated by users (UI: user innovation) to develop new products. UI has been observed in real world markets and the typical features of innovating users have been identified. The roles of the various communities in consumer product markets are explored as an important factor in UI. While communities foster the generation of UI and assist the diffusion of UI to the markets, it is still unclear what kind of communities managers in manufacturing firms should approach to obtain information for UI exploitation. In addition, the mechanism of UI in terms of community is also still unclear.This paper focuses on the mechanism of UI generation and diffusion in communities by applying agent-based simulation. Based on the simulation results, we are able to recommend to managers the most appropriate communities for UI exploitation.

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