Foucault als Wissenschaftshistoriker und -theoretiker anzusehen, ist für die frühe Phase seines Werkes möglich, selbst wenn er selbst seine erste große Studie Wahminn und Gesellschaft (1961) nicht als 'Vorgeschichte' der Psychiatrie verstanden wissen wollte, ebensowenig wie seine Arbeit zur Geburt der Klinik (1963) als Beitrag zur Geschichte der Medizin. Erst in Die Ordnung der Dinge (1966) tritt Foucault identifizierbar als Wissenschaftshistoriker auf, denn er versucht hier eine 'Archäologie der Humanwissenschaften'. Mit dem daran anschließenden Werk Archäologie des Wissens (1969), dem letzten Werk der frühen Phase, endet jedoch Foucaults Beschäftigung mit den 'Wissenschaften', die zugleich gegenüber der traditionellen Wissenschaftsgeschichte eine grundlegende Themenverschiebung vornahm: hin zum Wissen, weg von der Wissenschaft im Sinne einer theoretischen Einheit.

Archiv' ist bei Foucault der Titel für eine historische Größe der Wissensgeschichte, die unter bestimmten Bedingungen der Sagbarkeit zustande kommt und diese zugleich wirksam macht: 'Das Archiv ist zunächst das Gesetz dessen, was gesagt werden kann, das System, das das Erscheinen der Aussagen als einzelner Ereignisse beherrscht. Aber das Archiv ist auch das, was bewirkt, daß all diese gesagten Dinge sich nicht bis ins Unendliche in einer amorphen Vielfalt anhäufen, sich auch nicht in eine bruchlose Linearität einschreiben und nicht allein schon bei zufälligen äußeren Umständen verschwinden; sondern daß sie sich in distinkten Figuren anordnen, sich aufgrund vielfältiger Beziehungen miteinander verbinden, gemäß spezifischen Regelmäßigkeiten sich behaupten ( ... ).' Archiv in diesem Sinn ist so etwas wie ein Ermöglichungsgrund von Diskursivität, eine Instanz der historischen Analyse, die das Gesagte in seiner Existenz verständlich macht. In dieser Beziehung soll der Begriff im folgenden auf eine Bibliothek bezogen werden, die wie keine andere das Wissen das 17. Jahrhunderts repräsentiert. So kann man jedenfalls sprechen, wenn man im Hinblick auf die in Wolfenbüttel vollendete Büchersammlung blickt, die nicht nur die zweit- oder drittgrößte Bibliothek war, als ihr Gründer, Herzog August, 1666 starb, sondern die mit größter Wahrscheinlichkeit umfangreichste jemals von einem einzelnen Menschen mit größter Sorgfalt zusammengetragene Bibliothek überhaupt ist.

In our time, it has become easy to contribute to the general pool of knowledge: Tell somebody about events that have just happened and think yourself useful, publish a video of a crime and make history, put up a rumour and ruin someone’s career. My question is: Can we talk about counter-knowledge when it comes to news-contributors who are not journalists but have mobile phones from which they can send messages and photos? I will first outline why the idea of counter-knowledge is attractive, then sketch it as defined by French philosopher Michel Foucault. My third point is about ways of writing which produce counter-knowledge, before finally asking if sending an image can have the same effect.

Purpose/ Background The key resource for value creation in ambulatory healthcare is knowledge. Providers of ambulatory care are faced with knowledge-related challenges: Increasingly complex disease patterns and rapid medical innovation overwhelm their capacity to identify, generate, integrate, modify, diffuse and apply relevant knowledge. This results in reduced quality of care. Nevertheless, knowledge-based value creation has not been widely explored in ambulatory healthcare. Several research gaps explain: There are few publications regarding tools and methods for the management of knowledge resources in this context. Furthermore, the causal links between knowledge and organizational outcomes has not been theorized. A third major gap in the literature is the non-existence of frameworks for measuring knowledge-induced ambulatory healthcare performance. Against this backdrop, this dissertation attempts to answer the following overarching question: How can knowledge-based value creation be managed and measured in ambulatory healthcare? Design/ Methodology/ Approach This cumulative dissertation adopts a mixed-methods approach, i.e., each of the four included publications adopts a methodological approach appropriate to its topic and research question. The first publication narratively reviews major developments in Intellectual Capital (IC) and Knowledge Management theory. It benchmarks the new industry standard on Knowledge Management Systems (ISO 30401) against the previous literature by means of document analysis. Thereby it summarizes the state of research and practice regarding knowledge-based value creation. The second publication takes the form of a systematic literature review. In line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, it summarizes the literature on Knowledge Management and performance in ambulatory healthcare. It compiles an overview of Knowledge Management practices which have been studied in the literature. Furthermore, it lists the indicators used to measure the impact of Knowledge Management on ambulatory healthcare performance and assesses their usefulness for further research and practice. The third publication explores the Knowledge Management-performance relationship by means of qualitative data analysis. Based on interviews with stakeholders from the ambulatory healthcare context, a toolbox of human-centered Knowledge Management methods and technical Knowledge Management tools for ambulatory healthcare is compiled. A conceptual model of the causal links between knowledge and organizational value creation is derived. The fourth and final publication uses social network analysis to measure Relational Capital in referrer networks of medical specialists in ambulatory settings. Using inferential statistics, it correlates Relational Capital with the economic performance of healthcare providers.   Findings The first publication shows that the “ISO 30401:2018 Knowledge Management Systems” standard successfully integrates the broad and heterogenous extant literature on Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management. The standard creates a common language for this research field and provides guidelines for Knowledge Management Systems across geographical, industry and organizational settings. As it is intentionally neutral with regards to concrete Knowledge Management tools and methods, the challenge lies in the implementation of the standard in practice. The second publication is a systematic literature review on Knowledge Management and its effects on the performance of ambulatory healthcare providers. It reveals that the previous literature is narrowly focused on 6 types of Knowledge Management practices, namely Electronic Health Records, Health Information Systems, Clinical Decision Support Systems, Trainings, Communities of Practice and bundles of firm-specific Knowledge Management initiatives (“multi-faceted interventions”). In previous publications, these tools and methods were mostly studied in relation to healthcare quality, while other outcomes like financial performance, staff engagement and patient satisfaction were neglected. The third publication, an interview-based conceptual study, paints a different picture than the literature review. Practitioners use a much broader range of Knowledge Management initiatives than those studied in the literature. Specifically, self-learning tools such as apps and podcasts as well as immersive training sessions are used by ambulatory healthcare providers. Also, technical gadgets for speech recognition and automated data processing are used. Sector stakeholders also relate Knowledge Management initiatives to a much wider set of outcome dimensions than the academic literature. Financial performance, staff engagement and client (patient/ referrer) satisfaction were named as distal outcomes. According to the interviewees in the study, Knowledge Management initiatives have direct causal connections with these outcomes as well as indirect connections mediated by quality and efficiency. The fourth publication shows that Relational Capital in social-professional networks of medical specialists can be measured by social network metrics (degree, density, relative betweenness centrality, referrer concentration). Furthermore, empirical support for the relationship between the Relational Capital and economic performance of medical specialist offices is provided. Originality/ Value In summary, this thesis makes three key contributions to research: Firstly, it provides an overview of human-centered Knowledge Management methods and technical Knowledge Management tools for the ambulatory healthcare context. Secondly, it sheds light on the causal links between knowledge resources and value/performance delivered by ambulatory healthcare providers. Thirdly, it develops a measurement framework for Relational Capital. Finally, it points out a range of research questions worth exploring.:1 Introduction 1 2 Theoretical Premises 5 2.1 Definitions 5 2.1.1 Ambulatory Healthcare 5 2.1.2 Value in Ambulatory Healthcare 9 2.1.3 Knowledge 11 2.1.4 Knowledge Management 12 2.1.5 Intellectual Capital 18 2.2 The Resource-based View of the Firm 21 2.2.1 Historic Development 21 2.2.2 Key Criticisms 24 2.2.3 Applicability of the Resource-based View to Healthcare 24 2.3 Intellectual Capital Theory 27 2.3.1 Historical Development of Intellectual Capital Theory 27 2.3.2 Intellectual Capital Theory in (Ambulatory) Healthcare 37 2.3.3 Criteria for Constructing and Assessing Intellectual Capital Measurement and Management Frameworks 39 2.4 Knowledge Management Theory 41 2.4.1 Development of Knowledge Management Theory 41 2.4.2 Knowledge Management Theory in (Ambulatory) Healthcare 50 2.4.3 Criteria for Constructing and Assessing Knowledge Management and Measurement Frameworks 51 3 Methodology and Data 53 3.1 Thesis: Mixed Methods Approach 53 3.2 Methodology Publication 1: Narrative Review and Document Analysis 55 3.2.1 Methodological Considerations 55 3.2.2 Data and Analyses 56 3.2.3 Trustworthiness 56 3.2.4 Methodological Issues 56 3.3 Methodology Publication 2: Structured Literature Review 57 3.3.1 Methodological Considerations 57 3.3.2 Sampling and Data Collection 58 3.3.3 Trustworthiness 61 3.3.4 Methodological Issues 61 3.4 Methodology Publication 3: Interview-based Qualitative Data Analysis 63 3.4.1 Methodological Considerations 63 3.4.2 Interview Guide Development 63 3.4.3 Sampling and Data Collection 64 3.4.4 Analyses 66 3.4.5 Trustworthiness 67 3.4.6 Methodological Issues 67 3.5 Methodology Publication 4: Social Network Analysis and Inferential Statistics 69 3.5.1 Methodological Considerations 69 3.5.2 Metric Choice 69 3.5.3 Network Construction 73 3.5.4 Regression Methodology 73 3.5.5 Model Specification 76 3.5.6 Database and Software 82 3.5.7 Reliability and Validity 82 3.5.8 Methodological Issues 82 4 Publication 1: The ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems Standard – A New Framework for Value Creation and Research? 83 4.1 Abstract 83 4.1.1 Purpose 83 4.1.2 Design/ Methodology/ Approach 83 4.1.3 Findings 83 4.1.4 Originality/ Value 83 4.2 Introduction 84 4.3 Theoretical Background 85 4.3.1 Roots of Knowledge Management Theory 85 4.3.2 Knowledge and Value – the Resource-based View (before 1991) 86 4.3.3 Theory Development in the 1990s 86 4.3.4 Theoretical Diversification and Empirical Testing in the 2000s 88 4.3.5 Consolidation in the 2010s 88 4.3.6 Approaches to the ISO 30401 89 4.4 Structure and Content of the ISO 30401 – Knowledge Management Systems Standard 90 4.4.1 Structure of the ISO 30401 90 4.4.2 Knowledge Management System Requirements According to ISO 30401 90 4.4.3 Features of the Organizational Context Supporting the Knowledge Management System 93 4.4.4 Non-requirement Statements 93 4.5 Looking Back: Benchmarking the ISO 30401 Against the Literature 94 4.5.1 Nature of Knowledge Management 94 4.5.2 Knowledge Management Practices 95 4.5.3 Knowledge Management Enablers 97 4.5.4 Knowledge and Value Creation 99 4.6 Looking Forward: Maximizing Knowledge-based Value Creation 100 4.6.1 Operationalize the ISO 30401 Based on Empirical Evidence 100 4.6.2 Leverage Effects of Standardization on the Organization 101 4.6.3 Consider Market Forces 101 4.7 Conclusions 102 4.7.1 Synthesis of Findings 102 4.7.2 Contribution and Limitations 102 5 Publication 2: Knowledge Management as a Driver of Performance in Ambulatory Healthcare – a Systematic Literature Review Through an Intellectual Capital Lens 104 5.1 Abstract 104 5.1.1 Purpose 104 5.1.2 Design/ Methodology/ Approach 104 5.1.3 Findings 104 5.1.4 Originality/ Value 104 5.2 Introduction 105 5.3 Methods 106 5.3.1 Data Sources and Search Strategy 106 5.3.2 Quality Assessment Strategy 107 5.3.3 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria 107 5.3.4 Data Extraction Methods 108 5.4 Findings 108 5.4.1 Search Results 108 5.4.2 Types of Knowledge Management Initiatives and Knowledge Management Impact on Intellectual Capital 109 5.4.3 Performance Dimensions, Indicators and Impact 133 5.4.4 Relevance, Validity and Feasibility of Indicators 134 5.5 Discussion 135 5.5.1 What Knowledge Management initiatives have been used by ambulatory healthcare providers and how do they influence Intellectual Capital? 135 5.5.2 How has Knowledge Management-induced performance been operationalized in ambulatory healthcare and what impact of Knowledge Management on performance has been observed? 136 5.5.3 How suitable are the indicators used in the literature for further research on Knowledge Management, Intellectual Capital and performance in ambulatory healthcare settings? 137 5.5.4 Implications for Research 138 5.5.5 Implications for Practice 139 5.5.6 Limitations 139 6 Publication 3: Developing a Conceptual Model for Knowledge Management and Organizational Success in Ambulatory Healthcare 140 6.1 Abstract 140 6.1.1 Purpose 140 6.1.2 Design/ Methodology/ Approach 140 6.1.3 Findings 140 6.1.4 Originality/ value 140 6.2 Introduction 141 6.3 Related Literature 142 6.3.1 Definition: Fluid Nature of Knowledge 142 6.3.2 Definition: Business Process-Oriented Knowledge Management 142 6.3.3 Knowledge Management in Ambulatory Healthcare 143 6.4 Methodology 144 6.4.1 Sample: Two Sets of Semi-structured Interviews 144 6.4.2 Method: Qualitative Content Analysis (“Coding”) 145 6.5 Findings 145 6.5.1 Process-oriented Taxonomy of Knowledge Management Methods and Tools for Ambulatory Healthcare 145 6.5.2 Conceptual Model of Knowledge Management-induced Ambulatory Healthcare Performance 149 6.6 Discussion 154 6.7 Conclusion 156 7 Publication 4: Relational Capital in Referrer Networks of Medical Specialists in Office Settings 158 7.1 Abstract 158 7.1.1 Purpose 158 7.1.2 Design/ Methodology/ Approach 158 7.1.3 Findings 158 7.1.4 Originality 158 7.2 Introduction 159 7.3 Literature-based Hypothesis Development and Variable Selection 161 7.3.1 Dependent Variable: Economic Performance 162 7.3.2 Independent Variables: Network Characteristics 162 7.3.3 Control Variables: Characteristics of the Organization 166 7.4 Methods 167 7.4.1 Data Source 167 7.4.2 Constructing Medical Specialists’ Networks 167 7.4.3 Statistical Analyses 168 7.5 Findings 168 7.5.1 Sample Characteristics and Descriptive Statistics 168 7.5.2 Correlation of Network Characteristics with Practice Performance 170 7.6 Discussion 173 7.7 Conclusion 174 7.7.1 Contributions to the Literature 174 7.7.2 Implications for Practice 174 7.7.3 Limitations 175 7.7.4 Opportunities for Future Research 176 8 Discussion and Conclusion 177 8.1 Summary of the Results of the Thesis 177 8.2 Contributions to Research 178 8.2.1 Topic 1: Management of Knowledge Resources 178 8.2.2 Topic 2: Knowledge and Value Creation 179 8.2.3 Topic 3: Knowledge (Performance) Measurement 180 8.3 Implications for Practice 181 8.4 Limitations 183 8.5 Opportunities for Future Research 183 8.6 Conclusion 185 9 Appendix I: Questionnaire for Publication 3 (Physician Version) 186 10 Appendix II: Code Counts from the Second Interview Cycle (Publication 3) 192 11 Publication bibliography 198

This research focuses on clarifying the local and scientific knowledge about flooding adaptations, the interaction between local knowledge and scientific information in the low-lying area of Central Vietnam is analyzed. Data was obtained using three techniques including: semi-structured interviews, direct observation and household surveys. Responses indicate that the villagers have accumulated and inherited this type of knowledge in their society for a long time. The level of local knowledge is affected by gender, occupation and house location. This implies that the villagers’ social roles and their everyday interactions with the natural environment have nurtured an accumulated local knowledge. Scientific information is provided by the National Committee for Flood and Storm Control and National Center for Hydrometeorology Prediction. It contains information regarding disaster type, intensity, risk level and directions. The information is transferred to local people through mass media, social networks and official documents. However, local people are credulous toward scientific information given by the state. It was found that many villagers are not likely to follow the official guideline, especially the villagers with a high level of local knowledge. / Nghiên cứu tập trung làm rõ kiến thức bản địa và khoa học về thích ứng lũ lụt cũng như mối tương tác của chúng ở vùng trũng thấp miền Trung Việt Nam. Dữ liệu được thu thập bằng cách sử dụng kết hợp ba phương pháp bao gồm phỏng vấn bán cấu trúc, quan sát trực tiếp và khảo sát hộ gia đình. Các kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng người dân đã tích lũy và kế thừa kiến thức bản địa từ xã hội của họ trong một thời gian dài. Mức độ kiến thức bản địa bị ảnh hưởng bởi giới tính, nghề nghiệp và vị trí nhà ở. Vai trò xã hội và những tương tác hàng ngày của người dân với môi trường tự nhiên đã nuôi dưỡng và tích lũy kiến thức bản địa. Thông tin khoa học được cung cấp bởi Ủy ban Phòng chống lụt bão Quốc gia và Trung tâm Dự báo Khí tượng Thủy văn Quốc gia. Các thông tin về loại thiên tai, cường độ, mức độ rủi ro và hướng chỉ dẫn được thông báo. Thông tin này được chuyển đến người dân thông qua các phương tiện thông tin đại chúng, mạng xã hội và các văn bản chính thức. Tuy nhiên, người dân địa phương chủ quan trước những thông tin khoa học do cơ quan nhà nước đưa ra. Nhiều người dân không tuân theo các hướng dẫn chính thức của chính quyền địa phương, đặc biệt là những người có mức độ kiến thức bản địa được đánh giá cao.

This study aims to investigate the indigenous knowledge (IK) of three ethnic minority groups in the Northern Mountain Region (NMR) of Vietnam. The groups include (1) Tay people who live at lower elevations; (2) a Dao community who tend to live in the middle elevations and (3) Hmong farmers who mainly reside at higher elevations areas of the mountain. This research intends to identify climate change (CC) and its impact on agricultural cultivation and find out how these groups can adapt to CC by applying their IK in agriculture practices. Data was collected through focus group discussions (n=9), in-depth interviews (n=80), and participant observation. From the 80 respondents, 27 live in Bac Kan province, 23 in Yen Bai province and 30 in Son La province; those who had experience in agricultural production, elderly and village heads. The results show that the NMR weather has significant changes that negatively impact agriculture cultivation and local livelihood. Although the respondents are from different ethnic minorities, these farmers are highly aware of the CC risks, leading into adaptation practices. While the Tay people's major adaptation strategies include the use of a variety of native plants and changing planting calendars, the Dao and Hmong people apply intercropping and local techniques methods in terracing fields using local varieties of livestock. Our findings highlight the importance of using the IK of ethnic minorities in adaptation towards CC. A better targeting about the use of local resources in future national policies and projects is encouraged. / Nghiên cứu này nhằm thu thập kiến thức bản địa (IK) của ba nhóm dân tộc thiểu số ở Miền núi phía Bắc (MNPB) của Việt Nam bao gồm (1) dân tộc Tày chủ yếu sống ở vùng thấp; (2) Người Dao có xu hướng sống ở các độ cao trung bình; và (3) người Hmông chủ yếu cư trú ở các khu vực đồi núi cao. Nghiên cứu này nhằm xác định tình hình biến đổi khí hậu (BĐKH) và tác động của nó đối với sản xuất nông nghiệp, đồng thời tìm hiểu cách thức các nhóm dân tộc thiểu số này có thể thích ứng với BĐKH bằng cách áp dụng các kiến thức bản địa của họ vào thực tiễn sản xuất nông nghiệp. Dữ liệu được thu thập thông qua thảo luận nhóm tập trung (n = 9), phỏng vấn sâu (n = 80) và quan sát người tham gia. Trong số 80 người được hỏi, có 27 người sống ở tỉnh Bắc Kạn; 23 người ở tỉnh Yên Bái và 30 người ở tỉnh Sơn La, là những người có kinh nghiệm sản xuất nông nghiệp, người cao tuổi và trưởng thôn. Kết quả cho thấy thời tiết ở khu vực MNPB đã có những thay đổi so với trước gây tác động xấu đến canh tác nông nghiệp và sinh kế của cộng đồng. Mặc dù những người được hỏi từ các dân tộc khác nhau nhưng họ đều nhận thức được sự thay đổi này của thời tiết, do đó họ đã có những thích ứng riêng. Trong khi người Tày sử dụng giống cây trồng địa phương và thay đổi lịch thời vụ thì người Dao và Hmong chọn phương pháp xen canh và áp dụng kỹ thuật bản địa trên đất ruộng bậc thang và sử dụng gióng vật nuôi bản địa. Các phát hiện của chúng tôi giúp hiểu được tầm quan trọng của việc sử dụng IK trong thích ứng với BĐKH của các dân tộc thiểu số, từ đó có thể hướng đến mục tiêu tốt hơn việc sử dụng các nguồn lực địa phương trong các chính sách và dự án quốc gia trong tương lai.

This paper shows the results of asurvey on use of traditional medicinal plants of K’ho people who living in the buffer zone of Chu Yang Sin National Park, Central Highlands, Vietnam. Total of 66 medicinal plant species belonging to 61 genera, 40 families were recorded through semi-structured interviews, group discussions and from guides of field trips who are knowledgeable about medicinal plants. These medicinal plants used by K’ho people are documented with latin name, family, local name, parts used and medicinal uses. In generally, fresh medicinal plants are mainly boiled or decocted for drinking and leaves are parts most commonly used. The results of this study showed that K’ho people still depend heavily on medicinal plants to treat diseases such as headache, fever, malaria, diarrhea, fractures, sprains and arthritis. / Bài báo này đề cập kết quả khảo sát cách sử dụng cây thuốc truyền thống của người K’ho sống ở vùng đệm Vườn quốc gia Chư Yang Sin, Việt Nam. Tổng số 66 loài cây thuốc thuộc 61 chi, 40 họ đã được ghi nhận thông qua quá trình phỏng vấn bán cấu trúc, thảo luận nhóm và từ những người dẫn đường đi thu mẫu có am hiểu về cây thuốc. Những cây thuốc truyền thống của dân tộc K’ho được tư liệu hóa gồm tên latin, tên phổ thông, bộ phận sử dụng và cộng dụng. Nhìn chung, dược liệu tươi được dùng đun hoặc sắc để uống là chủ yếu và lá là bộ phận được sử dụng phổ biến nhất. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy cộng đồng K’ho vẫn phụ thuộc vào cây thuốc để chữa trị một số bệnh như đâu đầu, sốt, sốt rét, ỉa chảy, lị, gãy xương, bong gân và thấp khớp.

Description logic knowledge bases can be used to represent knowledge about a particular domain in a formal and unambiguous manner. Their practical relevance has been shown in many research areas, especially in biology and the semantic web. However, the tasks of constructing knowledge bases itself, often performed by human experts, is difficult, time-consuming and expensive. In particular the synthesis of terminological knowledge is a challenge every expert has to face. Because human experts cannot be omitted completely from the construction of knowledge bases, it would therefore be desirable to at least get some support from machines during this process. To this end, we shall investigate in this work an approach which shall allow us to extract terminological knowledge in the form of general concept inclusions from factual data, where the data is given in the form of vertex and edge labeled graphs. As such graphs appear naturally within the scope of the Semantic Web in the form of sets of RDF triples, the presented approach opens up the possibility to extract terminological knowledge from the Linked Open Data Cloud. We shall also present first experimental results showing that our approach has the potential to be useful for practical applications.

Donna J. Haraway ist eine US-amerikanische Biologin, Wissenschaftsphilosophin und Literaturwissenschaftlerin, die an den Departments History of Consciousness und Feminist Studies der University of California lehrte. In dieser Position hatte sie die erste explizit der Feministischen Theorie gewidmete Professur in den USA inne. Haraways Arbeiten bewegen sich in einem thematischen Schnittfeld von feministischer Erkenntniskritik, Cultural Studies, politischer Theorie und Biowissenschaften.

Involving customers in the creation and design process of new products and services has been dis-cussed in practice and research since the early 1980’s. As one of the first researchers, von Hippel (1986) shed light on the concept of Lead Users, a group of users who are able to provide most accu-rate data on future needs for organizations. Subsequently, many scholars emphasized different areas of contribution for customers and how they provide assistance to the process of innovation. First of all, customers may contribute to product innovation (Cooper & Kleinschmidt, 1987; Driessen & Hillebrand, 2013; Füller & Matzler, 2007; Gruner & Homburg, 2000; Sawhney, Verona, & Prandelli, 2005; Snow, Fjeldstad, Lettl, & Miles, 2011; Yang & Rui, 2009) and service innovation (Abecassis-Moedas, Ben Mahmoud-Jouini, Dell’Era, Manceau, & Verganti, 2012; Alam, 2002; Chesbrough, 2011; Larbig-Wüst, 2010; Magnusson, 2003; Paton & Mclaughlin, 2008; Shang, Lin, & Wu, 2009; Silpakit & Fisk, 1985), e.g., by co-creating values (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004), such as concepts or designs as well as reviewing and testing them throughout the stages of the process of innovation. From the customers’ point of view, being involved in innovation processes and becoming a part of the organ-ization is a desire of an increasing number of them. Customers are demanding more individual and more tailored products. They are increasingly knowledgeable and capable of designing and produc-ing their own products and services. Due to the fact that their influence on product development is positively related to the quality of the new product (Sethi, 2000), more and more organizations appreciate them as innovation actors and are willing to pay them for their input. Today, customers are not only involved in the qualification of products (Callon, Méadel, & Rabeharisoa, 2002; Callon & Muniesa, 2005; Grabher, Ibert, & Flohr, 2009) but also allowed to customize and evaluate them on the path to innovation (Franke & Piller, 2004; Piller & Walcher, 2006; von Hippel & Katz, 2002; von Hippel, 2001). Moreover, there is an abundance of studies that stress the customers’ influence on effectiveness (de Luca & Atuahene-Gima, 2007; Kleinschmidt & Cooper, 1991; Kristensson, Matthing, & Johansson, 2008; Still, Huhtamäki, Isomursu, Lahti, & Koskela-Huotari, 2012) and risk (Bayer & Maier, 2006; Enkel, Kausch, & Gassmann, 2005; Enkel, Perez-Freije, & Gassmann, 2005). While the latter comprises the risk of customer integration as well as the customers’ influence on market risks, e.g., during new product development, studies on effectiveness are mostly concerned with customer-orientation and products/services in line with customers’ expectations (Atuahene-Gima, 1996, 2003; Fuchs & Schreier, 2011). The accompanying change in understanding became known as open innovation (OI; first coined by Chesbrough in 2003) and represents a paradigm shift, where organizations switch their focus from internally generated innovation (i.e., ideation, in-house R&D, etc.) toward external knowledge and open innovation processes, thus, allowing them to integrate external ideas and actors, i.e. custom-ers (Chesbrough, 2006) and other external stakeholders (Laursen & Salter, 2006). Since then, OI has been identified as a success factor for increasing customer satisfaction (Füller, Hutter, & Faullant, 2011; Greer & Lei, 2012) and growing revenues (Faems, De Visser, Andries, & van Looy, 2010; Mette, Moser, & Fridgen, 2013; Spithoven, Frantzen, & Clarysse, 2010). In addition to that, by open-ing their doors to external experts and knowledge workers (Kang & Kang, 2009), organizations cope with shorter innovation cycles, rising R&D costs, and the shortage of resources (Gassmann & Enkel, 2004). Parallel to the paradigm shift in innovation, another shift has taken place in information and com-munication technologies (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011). Only a few years ago, when customer integration was still very costly, companies had to fly in customers, provide facilities onsite, permanently assign employees to such activities, and incentivise each task execut-ed by customers. Today, emerging technologies (subsumed under the term ‘social software’) help integrating customers or other external stakeholders, who are increasingly familiar with the such technologies from personal usage experience (Cook, 2008), and grant them access from all over the world in a 24/7 fashion. Examples include blogging tools, social networking systems, or wikis. These technologies help organizations to access customer knowledge, facilitate the collaboration with customers (Culnan, McHugh, & Zubillaga, 2010; Piller & Vossen, 2012) at reduced costs and allow them to address a much larger audience (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). On the other hand, customers can now express their needs in a more direct way to organizations. However, each technology or application category may present a completely different benefit to the process of innovation or parts of it and, thus, the innovation itself. Reflecting these developments, organizations need to know two things: how can they exploit the customers’ knowledge for innovation purposes and how may the implementation of social soft-ware support this. Hence, this research addresses the integration of customers in organizational innovation, i.e. new product development. It addresses how and why firms activate customers for innovation and which contribution customers provide to the process of innovation. Additionally, it investigates which tasks customers may take over in open innovations projects and which strategies organiza-tions may choose to do so. It also addresses which social software application supports each task best and how organizations may select the most suitable application out of a rapidly growing num-ber of alternatives. The nature of this research is recommendatory and aims at designing a solution for organizations that are interested in the potential contribution of customers during innovation, already involve customers in innovation tasks or plan to do so. Following the recommendations of this research should result in a more effective organizational exploitation of customer knowledge and their workforce and, thus, a value added to innovation and the outcomes of the process of innovation, e.g., a product that better fits the customers’ expectations and demands or consequently a better adoption of the product by the customer.