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This study integrates the lens of social influence theory, virtual communities of practice, and practice-based view into a theoretical model to understand the role of social influence in B2B virtual communities in the collaboration of innovation activities with co-creating users. Specifically, the main goal of this study is to unravel the relationships among social influence, contribution behavior, and co-innovation practices in the B2B virtual communities of practices (VCoPs) context. The model will be tested using a dataset gathered via an online survey and secondary data from four large-scale Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) forums in LinkedIn. Empirical findings from our survey of business professionals in SaaS-based companies will measure how social identity and social comparison act as key activators to develop co-innovation practices through users’ contribution behavior. The contributions of this study will provide new insights into B2B VCoPs and social media literature by elaborating how to orchestrate innovation with virtual communities users.

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Leveraging Co-innovation Practices on Business-to-Business Virtual Communities

This study integrates the lens of social influence theory, virtual communities of practice, and practice-based view into a theoretical model to understand the role of social influence in B2B virtual communities in the collaboration of innovation activities with co-creating users. Specifically, the main goal of this study is to unravel the relationships among social influence, contribution behavior, and co-innovation practices in the B2B virtual communities of practices (VCoPs) context. The model will be tested using a dataset gathered via an online survey and secondary data from four large-scale Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) forums in LinkedIn. Empirical findings from our survey of business professionals in SaaS-based companies will measure how social identity and social comparison act as key activators to develop co-innovation practices through users’ contribution behavior. The contributions of this study will provide new insights into B2B VCoPs and social media literature by elaborating how to orchestrate innovation with virtual communities users.