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1. Introduction
As extensive research documents the importance of creative climate to innovation performance (e.g. Baer, 2012; Isaksen and Akkermans, 2011), it is no surprise that actively establishing creative climates in various environments is important for firms with the desire to generate superior innovations. Such arguments are of particular importance to the growing concept of computer-mediated platforms, referring to person-to-person communications and interactions over computer networks (Yadav and Pavlou, 2014). While research on computer-mediated platforms could be linked to non-online environments, this study focuses particularly on computer-mediated platforms in the online context that enable users to communicate and interact.
In theory, internet technology facilitates communication, interaction and exchange-related activities among users, consumers and firms (Yadav and Pavlou, 2014; Zhou et al., 2014). Building on this view, previous studies have tried to explore the effectiveness of interactions between consumers and firm activities in computer-mediated platforms. For example, a computer-mediated platform that stimulates user participation is generally believed to be beneficial to a firm’s new product development performance (Lee and Yang, 2015). In addition, computer-mediated platforms are often seen as rich sources of creative ideas that offer added value to firms (Hobbs et al., 2016; Zhou et al., 2014). In practice, a growing number of firms are developing and using computer-mediated platforms to support their innovation development. For example, Dell acquired the idea to sell laptops with the Linux operating system from its IdeaStorm website. Starbucks receives 100,000 ideas from its customers and business partners on MyStarbucksIdea.com to create new business opportunities. In total, 25 percent of Proctor & Gamble’s new products come from InnoCentive, a website where companies post challenges for which anyone can submit solutions (Dodgson et al., 2006). Another example is the Nearby Supernova Factory, an international astrophysics collaboration that is exploding stars in order to learn more about the expansion rate of the universe. About 30 members from around the world collaborate on scientific research through chat and virtual network computing on their own developed internet platform (Brandic and Raicu, 2011). The final example is YouTube, which provides an internet platform where individual creativity can thrive.
While more and more firms acknowledge the importance of computer-mediated platforms to innovation performance, very few studies have taken the firms’ perspectives to...