The Emergence of Novel Product Uses: An Investigation of Exaptations in IKEA Hacks

Tian Heong Chan () and Shi-Ying Lim ()
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Tian Heong Chan: Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
Shi-Ying Lim: National University of Singapore School of Computing, 117417 Singapore

Management Science, 2023, vol. 69, issue 5, 2870-2892

Abstract: Exaptation refers to the emergence of novel functionalities in existing products. Exaptations frequently arise in the context of users who creatively modify (or hack) existing products to accommodate new needs. Here, we examine how product-first (compared with problem-first) search affects the occurrence of exaptations. In a product-first search, the user identifies the product to be hacked before seeking a viable need. In a problem-first search, the user has a defined problem before seeking a viable solution. We argue that users are more likely to achieve exaptations following a problem-first (compared with a product-first) search. Indeed, with problem-first search, they are less likely to face functional fixedness, and they can leverage their greater awareness of problems that may not have readily adaptable solutions, which leads them to generate exaptations. Using a novel data set comprising user hacks of IKEA products, we present evidence that hacks originating from a product-first search are less likely to generate exaptations than hacks originating from a problem-first search. We also show that this difference is mitigated when the user has hacking experience or when the IKEA product being hacked is more modular. We also explore how the mitigation happens. Increased hacking experience appears to reduce functional fixedness; meanwhile, increased product modularity increases the likelihood that users will make serendipitous discoveries leading to exaptations. We contribute to the growing literature on exaptation as a source of novelty and discuss the implications of this phenomenon for managing user innovation.

Keywords: exaptation; user innovation; design cognition; creativity and ideation; problem-solving (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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