Purpose - This paper focuses on the role of virtual communities as a means to boost tourist product innovation by leveraging customer relationships. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we aim to offer a deeper and clear-cut understanding of the collaborative innovation paradigm (Von Hippel, 1986; 1988; 2005) in order to analyze its impact on tourism firm management. Design/methodology/approach - First, we examine previous work in tourist innovation and the role of lead users as a source of learning. Then, we explore virtual communities and their development process. Lastly, we analyze the case of CTS’s virtual community, an Italian-based Tour Operator firm. Strategic and managerial implications will conclude the paper. Findings - Data and insights gathered from interviews lead us to suggest that tourism firms may strategically leverage virtual communities to build strong customer relationships; customers may provide useful information on their needs; collaborative innovation is a useful lens to take into account Internet opportunities and customers’ knowledge. Research limitation - The main limitation of our study is that the findings can not be extended to the other industries. Our approach has been to compare only the collaborative innovation schemes with tourism industry. Originality/value – Although a number of limitations, our work fills offers a deeper picture on how virtual communities may be managed strategically in order to enhance quality and product innovation. It also presents managerial implications since managers may put in practice our planning and managing model of online communities successfully.

Collaborative innovation in tourism: managing virtual communities

BAGLIERI, Daniela;
2009-01-01

Abstract

Purpose - This paper focuses on the role of virtual communities as a means to boost tourist product innovation by leveraging customer relationships. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we aim to offer a deeper and clear-cut understanding of the collaborative innovation paradigm (Von Hippel, 1986; 1988; 2005) in order to analyze its impact on tourism firm management. Design/methodology/approach - First, we examine previous work in tourist innovation and the role of lead users as a source of learning. Then, we explore virtual communities and their development process. Lastly, we analyze the case of CTS’s virtual community, an Italian-based Tour Operator firm. Strategic and managerial implications will conclude the paper. Findings - Data and insights gathered from interviews lead us to suggest that tourism firms may strategically leverage virtual communities to build strong customer relationships; customers may provide useful information on their needs; collaborative innovation is a useful lens to take into account Internet opportunities and customers’ knowledge. Research limitation - The main limitation of our study is that the findings can not be extended to the other industries. Our approach has been to compare only the collaborative innovation schemes with tourism industry. Originality/value – Although a number of limitations, our work fills offers a deeper picture on how virtual communities may be managed strategically in order to enhance quality and product innovation. It also presents managerial implications since managers may put in practice our planning and managing model of online communities successfully.
2009
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/1890740
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