Innovation platforms: Intentions for participation

The proliferation of internet-based innovation communities such as crowdsourcing and innovation intermediary platforms -i.e. InnoCentive, Yet2.com, NineSigma- that link companies and individuals to facilitate open innovation have recently gained a significant attention of the academics and practitioners. Especially, this has only accelerated once U.S. Government launched its Challenge.gov project and followed by many others like AmsterdamOpent.nl, etc., to explore innovative ideas for product and service innovation and solutions to resolve public problems. Among the multiple functions that those communities perform, idea generation is overshadowed. This paper addresses this gap using data collected from 335 idea generation projects that vary based on topic, reward size, duration, etc. Thus, the aim of this paper is first to analyze how the process of idea generation has unfolded within time, explore patterns and thereby the identification and analysis of the main factors for the success of idea generation projects necessary to implement product and service innovations. The initial results suggest that in all conditions, the pattern of idea generation follows three stages: first movers phase, criticism phase, and last-ditch phase. Furthermore, we monitored an evaluation in the pattern as time passed and community matured. The empirical data analysis presented that rewards, project topics, and psychological distance of companies has a significant impact on the success of idea generation projects. These factors can be used to alter the projects by the intermediary to enhance success.