Embedded lead users in the organization and consumer lead users in the market

Abstract

Identifying and gaining access to lead users (LUs) in the market is very costly and time-consuming. To enable more efficient access to LUs, this study examines how the proportion of embedded lead users (ELUs) of the organization as employees differs from that of LUs in the market as consumers. An organizational survey and a survey of consumers were conducted in the travel market, and differences in the distribution of lead userness were examined based on the samples obtained from these surveys. The results indicate that the proportion of individuals with high lead userness is higher within the organization than in the market. However, no significant differences in lead userness within the organization was found according to employment type.

Keywords

• user innovation
• lead users
• embedded lead users
• internal lead users