The Rich or the Poor?: Personal resources, do-it-yourself, and innovation in the household sector

Max Mulhuijzen; J.P.J. de Jong

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2022.104712

The Rich or the Poor? Personal resources, do-it-yourself, and innovation in the household sector

Max Mulhuijzen^*, J.P.J. de Jong

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Household sector innovation is significant in scale and scope. Thus far, it has been studied in isolation and with mixed evidence regarding the role of personal resources (consumers' income and discretionary time). We recognize that household sector innovation is embedded in the broader phenomenon of do-it-yourself (DIY) by consumers, as the literature reveals conceptual similarities, parallel motivations, and antecedents. The main distinction is that, whereas DIY goods may replicate existing products, household sector innovation is restricted to goods embodying a novel function. We explore if studying household sector innovation and DIY in an integrated framework helps to resolve previous inconsistent evidence on the role of personal resources. Based on a neoclassical model in which agents optimize their time allocation, we hypothesize that income and discretionary time positively relate to their DIY output, but—given that agents develop DIY goods—we hypothesize that income negatively relates to innovation. For discretionary time, we formulate a research question regarding its effect on innovation which we answer empirically. Our findings suggest that consumers with more personal resources derive more process benefits from DIY but that these benefits crowd out individuals' focus on the function of their objects, hence, the likelihood of developing innovations. Survey data from the United Arab Emirates (n = 2728) confirm our suppositions, showing that the relationship between personal resources and household sector innovation is more refined than suggested by previous studies.

Original language	English
Article number	104712
Number of pages	13
Journal	Research Policy
Volume	52
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104712
Publication status	Published - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Our data collection was sponsored by the UAE's Prime Minister's office as part of a scientific study to measure HHS innovation and identify policy implications. The data were collected by NR Research, a local marketing research company in Dubai, by means of computer-assisted telephone interviewing. NR obtained our initial sample with a random number generator covering cell phones and landlines. This method ensures that each citizen has an equal chance of ending up in the sample ( Malhotra and Birks, 2006 ). We recognized that contract workers have scant leisure time, so most telephone interviews were attempted in the later evenings and during the weekends.

Funding Information:
We thank Kris de Jaegher, Samuele Murtinu, and Erik Stam for their constructive comments on draft versions of this paper. We thank the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation for supporting the data gathering of this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors

Keywords

Do-it-yourself
Household sector innovation
Prosumption
User innovation

Access to Document

10.1016/j.respol.2022.104712Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0048733322002347-mainFinal published version, 982 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Household sector innovation is significant in scale and scope. Thus far, it has been studied in isolation and with mixed evidence regarding the role of personal resources (consumers' income and discretionary time). We recognize that household sector innovation is embedded in the broader phenomenon of do-it-yourself (DIY) by consumers, as the literature reveals conceptual similarities, parallel motivations, and antecedents. The main distinction is that, whereas DIY goods may replicate existing products, household sector innovation is restricted to goods embodying a novel function. We explore if studying household sector innovation and DIY in an integrated framework helps to resolve previous inconsistent evidence on the role of personal resources. Based on a neoclassical model in which agents optimize their time allocation, we hypothesize that income and discretionary time positively relate to their DIY output, but—given that agents develop DIY goods—we hypothesize that income negatively relates to innovation. For discretionary time, we formulate a research question regarding its effect on innovation which we answer empirically. Our findings suggest that consumers with more personal resources derive more process benefits from DIY but that these benefits crowd out individuals' focus on the function of their objects, hence, the likelihood of developing innovations. Survey data from the United Arab Emirates (n = 2728) confirm our suppositions, showing that the relationship between personal resources and household sector innovation is more refined than suggested by previous studies.",

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