User involvement in business-to-business operational service innovation

This chapter investigates and conceptualizes user involvement in business-to-business service innovations as well as the tools that are used to support interactions in such a service innovation process. In so doing, this study offers rich and detailed insights into the complexity of user involvement and supporting tools in business-to-business service innovations. The chapter is built on a qualitative research study in a specific type of business-to-business operational services, facility management services. The results from this study indicate that, in this context, the involvement of users is variable depending on the offered services as well as on the specific role that users play with regard to the service being innovated. This is due to the different needs and expectations that users have with respect to such service innovation