A Biopsychosocial Perspective of User-Generated Innovation in Open Innovation Models: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis

Abstract

User-generated innovation has contributed to the growth of the democratization of open-innovation models. One of the most common forms of user-generated innovation is evident on social media platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate nonpecuniary motivations that drive innovation among user innovators on social media platforms. Furthermore, the study examines the underlying sociopsychological and biological dispositions that influence nonpecuniary motivation. The experimental and control group consisted of 204 user innovators on different social media platforms who filled out a self-reporting questionnaire in this exploratory research design. The study assessed endocrinal biomarkers through a proxy measure of 2D:4D ratio associated with behavioral, emotional, and social behavior. It developed a moderated-mediation model evaluating the indirect conditional relationships through a regression-based analysis with bootstrapped estimations. The findings support the moderated-mediation model, indicating that nonpecuniary motivation primarily explains user innovator behavior. Hedonic emotions, characterized by aesthetics, experiential enjoyment, and satisfaction-related feelings, mediate this relationship. A critical finding of the study is that endocrinal testosterone moderates this mediated relationship. This study is the first to apply a biopsychosocial lens to examine motivational drives influencing user-generated innovation using a moderated-mediation model. It contributes to understanding user innovators’ tricky motivational purposes, emphasizing the role of human agency in advancing the open-innovation agenda.