A Prophet Has No Honor in His Hometown? Repurposing in the Mobile App Industry

Through discovering new uses of existing products or services, repurposing is a useful innovation approach that allows firms to reach new customers in a different market category. Moving from a prior market category to a new one, repurposing combines knowledge from these categories. We argue that the rarer (less frequently) similar recombination has occurred in the past, the more likely a repurposing will gain market attention in the new market category. We also argue that the effect of rarity of combination on market attention will be strengthened if the repurposing engages in a targeted search by moving from a vague market category to a more specific category. Using data collected from Google’s mobile app platform, we identify key characteristics of repurposing based on the prior and destination market categories associated with the repurposing and show how such characteristics may influence market attention to the repurposing. Our findings contribute to both the innovation and strategy literature and inform practitioners of key factors that drive successful repurposing.