A Customer Participated Innovation Ecosystem and Motivation Behavior Model based on Motivational Preference and Extrinsic Situation Incentives using Ecology Theory

This paper proposes a set of perspectives for studying innovation ecosystems that are based on ecological research. Our perspectives are based on fundamental similarities between natural and business systems. We suggest that innovation ecosystems can be defined as pathways of interlinked business models. Pathways are characterised by the flows they convey not the types of business model that support the flows. These pathways convey material and informational resources, as well as value. Like the nutrient and energy pathways in natural ecosystems. The importance of innovation ecosystem has been wildly recognized in the theoretical and practical fields, which is a necessary driving force for environmental enterprises. However, the current researchers still hold different viewpoints on the key factors that have effects on the innovation ecosystem. It is well known that the incentive theory focuses on the effects of extrinsic situation incentives on the innovation ecosystem, while the correlation theory of motivational psychology argues that the customer inherent motivational preference will determine the innovation ecosystem. To overcome the shortcomings in the present studies, both of the above-mentioned viewpoints are taken into account to construct a new model on the basis of ecology theory to describe the innovation ecosystem behaviours. In which, the extrinsic situation incentives and the inherent motivational preference are divided into two dimensions, respectively, and then the mechanism of innovation ecosystem are studied and obtained to provide some useful suggestions for enterprises.