What user-innovators do that others don't: A study of daily practices

Over centuries, households produced goods for own consumption and for trade, mostly in connection with a merchant who arranged for distribution. Still, with increasing technological penetration into most parts of life,... [ view full abstract ]

Over centuries, households produced goods for own consumption and for trade, mostly in connection with a merchant who arranged for distribution. Still, with increasing technological penetration into most parts of life, households could not provide any such alternatives. Instead, users engaged with available products from mass production and adopted them to their needs. Some users showed remarkable levels of sophistication in these exercises. Although the term “users” is not limited to individuals but also include other firms, the further are likely to be initial drivers of innovations as active consumers able to act even when market mechanisms and commercialization channels are limited.

This paper studies the specificities of Russian user-innovators on a sample of 1670 home interviews. It is argued that innovation behavior is rooted in specific socio-psychological set-ups that are crystallized in daily practices and routines. The latter are easy to observe and therefore provide researchers with good opportunities for the identification and deeper understanding of user-innovation. Focusing on the practices and routines around media consumption, internet and technology-usage, consumer preferences and civic engagement, we show the difference in behavior patterns of Russian user-innovators in comparison with a sample of mere users. The derived model correctly classified 73.5% of the original grouped cases of user-innovators. We conclude that a set of practices relative to the economic, social and cultural background explains user-innovation engagement and how support could be provided.

Given extensive presence of user-innovators and deeper understanding of their behavior patterns, might be a promising policy move to provide greater support. Although some of our findings are probably country specific, the results are encouraging for further research into the importance of practices and routines in identifying user-innovators.