User communities: from nice-to-have to must-have

Abstract With Industry 5.0 already on the horizon, firms need to adapt their strategies better cater an increasingly demanding and sustainability-conscious customer base. At same time, role of customers has shifted from being mere passive buyers active users, who not only demand personalized products services suit needs preferences, but also actively engage other users stakeholders, thereby grounding Quadruple Helix model. The objective this paper is assess user communities in fostering firms’ innovation all types innovation. Econometric estimations identified community as a driver propensity. Additionally, relevance these across (mainly for product process innovation) was proven. Robustness analysis confirmed results obtained different dimensions established connection human capital. This finding revealed that absorptive capacity serves facilitator innovation, moderator. empirical contributions point towards urgency policy actions consistently involve agents vehicles responsible which can fine-tune paths eco-friendlier ecosystem. Further testing between capital required, establishment efficient communication channels promoting knowledge flows inside firm will leverage outputs types.