Surveying innovation in samples of individual end consumers

Purpose – Rather than businesses, individual end consumers may develop innovations for themselves. Innovating consumers generally do not protect their innovations with intellectual property rights and may be generally available – a phenomenon recently coined as “free innovation” (von Hippel, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to take stock of how innovation by individual consumers has been measured, and to propose a survey procedure for future studies of consumer innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The author provides a literature review of how innovation by individual end consumers has been measured, and reports on a pilot study conducted in Finland to improve and standardize the measurement of consumer innovation. Findings – The survey procedure includes up to six steps which can be tailored to specific research purposes. Originality/value – The procedure will enable better international/cross-study comparisons and an efficient collection of data.