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2021 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Patients and Caregivers as Developers of Medical Devices

An Empirical Study on User Innovation in the Healthcare Sector

Author: Moritz Göldner

Publisher: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden

Book Series : Forschungs-/Entwicklungs-/Innovations-Management

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

Moritz Göldner analyzes the unexplored phenomenon of patients and caregivers as innovators with respect to their own unmet medical needs in two complementary studies. In study 1 he uses a mixed-method approach to analyze quantitative data from two datasets on more than 1,100 medical smartphone apps each and qualitative data from 16 interviews with developers of medical apps. He finds substantial evidence that patients and caregivers develop medical apps and shows that those apps receive significantly better ratings than company-developed apps. In study 2 he further explores the commercialization activities of patients and caregivers by analyzing 14 case studies of patients and caregivers who successfully brought their tangible medical device on the market. He finds that those innovators did not maximize their profits, but rather sought to market their devices at reasonable prices to offer access to many other patients. The author discusses these insights and draws conclusions for scholars and managers that are valid beyond this extreme case of user innovation.

About the author

Moritz Göldner is an innovation consultant for user-centered innovation in (digital) healthcare. Prior to this position, he was a project manager and research associate at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at Hamburg University of Technology. His research interests cover user innovation in healthcare, social innovation, the emergence of new medical technologies, as well as entrepreneurship.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Focus and Scope of this Thesis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
While the contributions to innovation of healthcare professionals and medical device manufacturers as providers of medical devices and services have been described intensively, the roles of patients and caregivers in innovation in the healthcare sector have received little attention in academia and industry. Current research indicates that the role of patients in healthcare is changing from that of a passive consumer of healthcare to a knowledgeable and critical recipient of healthcare products and services. In this thesis, I investigate innovative patients and caregivers who develop medical devices for their own unmet medical needs.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 2. Conceptual Foundations: The Phenomenon of Patients and Caregivers as User Innovators
Abstract
In this chapter, I summarize the most important literature streams that will provide the scientific foundation for this thesis. I will elaborate on user innovation, free innovation, lead user theory, user entrepreneurship, market success of user innovations, as well as user innovation in healthcare.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 3. Research Gaps
Abstract
  • In this section, I highlight the research questions as well as the most important research gaps addressed in this thesis.
Moritz Göldner

Are Patients and Caregivers the Better Innovators? The Case of Medical Smartphone Applications

Frontmatter
Chapter 4. Introduction: User Innovation and Medical Smartphone Applications
Abstract
In this chapter, I provide an outlook on study 1 that focuses on patients and caregivers as user innovators in the market of medical smartphone applications.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 5. Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development
Abstract
In this chapter, I review the literature on digital health and medical smartphone applications that will provide the scientific foundation for study 1. Further, I develop five hypotheses that I will test using the analytical app dataset and the resulting empirical model.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 6. Methodology
Abstract
In this section, I outline the methodologies I applied in study 1. I obtained two complementary data sources: analytical data on medical smartphone apps and qualitative data on interviews with user innovators (patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals) in the field of medical smartphone apps. I elaborate on data collection, operationalization of the measures, data preparation and testing of assumptions for regression analysis as well as data analysis for the analytical app data and on sampling and data collection as well as data analysis for the qualitative dataset.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 7. Findings
Abstract
This section contains the findings of the analysis of analytical app data and the qualitative data. First, I analyzed two large-scale, real-world datasets of analytical app data in order to draw conclusions on developer type’s impacts on app performance. I clustered the app developers into four groups: companies and independent developers (both non-user-developers) as well as patients and their caregivers in one group and healthcare professionals in the last group (both user-developers). One dataset comprising 1,192 apps was gathered in mid-2014, and the second dataset comprising 1,265 apps was gathered in mid-2018. Subsequently, both datasets were processed and analyzed similarly. A mediated regression analysis was applied to the 2018 dataset. Further, I conducted a qualitative study using interview data with user-developers of medical apps to shed more light on the findings on analytical app data.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 8. Discussion
Abstract
In this section, the findings of study 1 are summarized and discussed. Regarding the two research questions I developed in section 4, my study confirms the results of extant literature on patients and caregivers as a key contributor group to innovation in the medical device sector using a large-scale, real-world dataset. The performance assessment and thus research question 2 will be answered in the course of this chapter, along with a discussion of the outcomes of the five hypotheses. 
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 9. Preliminary Conclusions
Abstract
In this chapter, theoretical and managerial implications are derived for study 1. Furthermore, limitations of study 1 and possible ways to overcome them are mentioned.
Moritz Göldner

User Entrepreneurs for Social Innovation – The Case of Patients and Caregivers as Developers of Tangible Medical Devices

Frontmatter
Chapter 10. Introduction: User Entrepreneurs for Social Innovation
Abstract
In this chapter, I provide an outlook on study 2 that focuses on patients and caregivers as developers of tangible medical devices.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 11. Theoretical Background and Research Questions
Abstract
In this section, I review the literature on opportunity recognition and exploitation in entrepreneurship in general and particularly in the case of innovative patients and caregivers as well as on social innovation. Further, I develop two research question that will be answered in study 2.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 12. Methodology
Abstract
In this chapter, the methodology used for data acquisition and analysis is outlined, as well as a description of the procedures that were applied to ensure internal validity, external validity, and reliability.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 13. Findings
Abstract
In this section, the findings of study 2 are summarized and discussed. The findings indicate that patients and caregivers are a potential source of innovation for medical devices. I present the results along the four stages of the development process: the unmet medical need, opportunity recognition, opportunity exploitation, and market launch.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 14. Discussion
Abstract
In this chapter, I discuss the opportunity recognition and exploitation of user entrepreneurs who developed a medical device for their own need or for a person they cared for. In all observed cases, opportunity recognition and exploitation was stimulated by a trigger, the unmet medical need, and concluded by market launch . The expected benefits for patients and caregivers are more multifaceted than for companies, which mainly seek to maximize profit. Patients and caregivers seek to help themselves and, if they successfully solve their problem, also others with the same condition. Since patients and caregivers often offer their medical device for a below-average price in the market, the nonpecuniary benefits of successfully helping others seem to partly substitute for pecuniary remuneration
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 15. Preliminary Conclusions
Abstract
In this section, theoretical and managerial implications of study 2 will be derived. Further, some limitations and ways to overcome these limitations are mentioned.
Moritz Göldner

Integration of Findings, Implications, and Conclusion

Frontmatter
Chapter 16. Summary of Findings
Abstract
In the course of this thesis, I have analyzed the phenomenon of patients and caregivers as innovators in the healthcare sector from different perspectives and found answers to the three research questions, which I will now summarize.
Moritz Göldner
Chapter 17. Implications and Conclusion
Abstract
The observation of the phenomenon that patients and caregivers develop medical devices according to their own unmet medical needs was the starting point for this thesis. In two separate studies, I shed light on this phenomenon from different perspectives. User innovation theory was the primary theoretical lens I adopted; further, I applied user entrepreneurship theory, social innovation theory and, to some extent, free innovation theory. In this section, I will discuss the interrelationships between the abovementioned—hitherto disconnected—research streams.
Moritz Göldner
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Patients and Caregivers as Developers of Medical Devices
Author
Moritz Göldner
Copyright Year
2021
Electronic ISBN
978-3-658-32041-6
Print ISBN
978-3-658-32040-9
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32041-6