User Innovators in Mainland China and Their Motivation to Become User Entrepreneurs

Shi, Yiqing (2023) User Innovators in Mainland China and Their Motivation to Become User Entrepreneurs. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

Text Yiqing Shi_PhD Thesis.pdf - Author Accepted Manuscript Access to this file is embargoed until 1 August 2028. Download (3MB)

Abstract

Through a series of in-depth interviews with user innovators and user entrepreneurs, this study contributes to the entrepreneurial motivation literature and user entrepreneurship literature by exploring how the user innovators in Mainland China become user entrepreneurs and the motivation behind this activity, as well as the factors that influence the user innovators’ entrepreneurial motivation. In this study, innovators who participated in the Chinese TV show I Love Invention were invited to be interviewed. Among all sixty interviewees, thirty were user innovators. They were asked to share their innovation and entrepreneurship experience. This research finds that, (i) Intrinsic motivation to innovate can bring about the sustainable influence on the whole process of user innovation and user entrepreneurship; (ii) Financial extrinsic motivation, identified motivation, introjected motivation and integrated motivation are the main drivers for user innovators to commercialise their products, and their prevalence decreases as listed; (iii) Basic psychological needs mediate the relationship between financial resources, social capital resources, and human capital resources. (iv) External resources influence entrepreneurship activity through the mediation of entrepreneurial motivation. (v) User entrepreneurship is a flexible and circulating process, in which user entrepreneurs can easily adjust their diffusion strategies. In terms of theoretical contribution, this study develops a novel theoretical framework that captures a broader set of influencing factors of entrepreneurial motivation, incorporates both internal resources and external resources and proposes the mediation role of basic psychological needs in this framework. It also adds a new influencing factor of product-related resources to the literature, which is unique for user entrepreneurs. This study also furtherly describes the decision-making process of user entrepreneurs, expanding the frameworks proposed by Shah and Tripsas (2007) and de Jong (2005). Managerial implications and future research opportunities are also discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	User Innovation, User Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Motivation, Influential Factors, Basic Psychological Needs
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2023 14:02
Last Modified:	29 Aug 2023 14:03
DOI:	10.17638/03169350
Supervisors:	Cross, Adam Papageorgiadis, Nikolaos Ding, Bin
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3169350