Customer co‐creation in service innovation: a matter of communication?

Emerald - Tập 23 Số 3 - Trang 311-327 - 2012
Anders Gustafsson1, Per Kristensson2, Lars Witell3
1Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden and BI – Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, Norway
2Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
3Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden and Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Tóm tắt

PurposeCustomer co‐creation is becoming increasingly popular among companies, and intensive communication with customers is generally seen as a determinant of the success of a new service or product. The purpose of this study is to analyze customer co‐creation based on four dimensions of communication – frequency, direction, modality, and content – in order to understand the value of customer co‐creation in service innovation. One of the key aims of the study is to investigate whether all dimensions of customer co‐creation have an effect on product and market success, and if the effect depends on the degree of innovativeness of a development project.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a study including 334 managers with experience in new service and product development to examine how development projects applied customer co‐creation in terms of communication in order to address future customer needs. Data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS). The first analysis was performed with a sub‐sample of 207 development projects regarding incremental innovations. A subsequent analysis was performed with a sub‐sample of 77 development projects on radical innovations.FindingsA total of three of the four dimensions of customer co‐creation (frequency, direction, and content) have a positive and equally significant effect on product success when developing incremental innovations. For radical innovations, frequency has a positive effect and content has a negative significant effect on product success. These findings suggest that co‐creation and innovation can be combined, but that the choice of methods for co‐creation differs depending on whether incremental or radical innovations are developed.Originality/valueDespite a general consensus that co‐creation with customers is beneficial, there is a lack of agreement regarding how and why. The present article addresses this shortcoming and shows that co‐creation is largely about communicating with customers in order to understand their future needs. On the other hand, a company working on radical innovations may wish to limit customer input that is too concrete or solution based.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Armstrong, J.S. and Overton, T.S. (1977), “Estimating non‐response bias in mail surveys”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 396‐402. Atuahene‐Gima, K., Stanley, S.F. and Olson, E.M. (2005), “The contingent value of responsive and proactive market orientations for new product program performance”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 464‐82. Bagozzi, R.P. and Yi, Y. (1994), “Advanced topics in structural equation models”, in Bagozzi, R.P. (Ed.), Advanced Methods of Marketing Research, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 1‐52. Bonner, J.M. (2010), “Customer interactivity and new product performance: moderating effects of product newness and product embeddedness”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 485‐92. Chin, W.W. (1998), “The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling”, in Marcoulides, G.A. (Ed.), Modern Methods for Business Research, LEA, Mahwah, NJ. Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1990), “Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 128‐52. Cooper, R.G. (1996), “Overhauling the new product process”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 465‐82. Daft, R.L. and Lengel, R.H. (1986), “Organizational information requirements: media richness and structural design”, Management Science, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 554‐71. Day, G.S. (1994), “The capabilities of market‐driven organizations”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 5, pp. 37‐52. Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A. and Roos, I. (2005), “Service portrays and service constructions – a critical review through the lens of the customer”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 107‐21. Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A., Johnson, M.D. and Sandén, B. (2000), New Service Development in the New Economy, Studenlitteratur, Lund. Edvardsson, B., Kristensson, P., Magnusson, P. and Sundstrom, E. (2012), “Customer integration within service development – a review of methods and an analysis of insitu and exsitu contributions”, Technovation (in press).. Efron, B. and Tibshirani, R.J. (1993), An Introduction to the Bootstrap, Chapman & Hall, London. Fornell, C. and Cha, J. (1994), “Partial least squares”, in Bagozzi, R.P. (Ed.), Advanced Methods of Marketing Research, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, pp. 52‐78. Fornell, C. and Larcker, D. (1981), “Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 39‐50. Gallouj, F. and Savona, M. (2011), “Towards a theory if innovation in services: a state of the art”, in Gallouj, F. and Djellal, F. (Eds), The Handbook of Innovation and Services, Edward Elgar, Northampton, MA. Gallouj, F. and Weinstein, O. (1997), “Innovation in services”, Research Policy, Vol. 26 Nos 4/5, pp. 537‐56. Grönroos, C. (2000), Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach, Wiley, London. Gruner, K.E. and Homburg, C. (2000), “Does customer interaction enhance new product success?”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 1‐14. Gustafsson, A. and Johnson, M.D. (1997), “Bridging the quality‐satisfaction gap”, Quality Management Journal, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 27‐43. Gustafsson, A. and Johnson, M.D. (2003), Competing in a Service Economy: How to Create a Competitive Advantage through Service Development and Innovation, Jossey‐Bass, San Francisco, CA. Gustafsson, A., Brax, S. and Witell, L. (2010), “Setting a research agenda for service business in manufacturing industries”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 557‐63. Hiltz, R.S., Johnson, K. and Turoff, M. (1986), “Experiments in group decision making communication process and outcome in face‐to‐face versus computerized conferences”, Human Communication Research, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 225‐52. Hulland, J. (1999), “Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: a review of four recent studies”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 195‐204. Jaworski, B.J., Kohli, A.K. and Sahay, A. (2000), “Market‐driven versus driving markets”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 45‐54. Joshi, A.W. and Sharma, S. (2004), “Customer knowledge development: antecedents and impact on new product performance”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68 No. 1, pp. 47‐59. Kotler, P. (1977), Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control, Prentice‐Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Kristensson, P., Gustafsson, A. and Archer, T. (2004), “Harnessing the creative potential among users”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 4‐14. Kristensson, P., Matthing, J. and Johansson, N. (2008), “Key strategies for the successful involvement of customers in the co‐creation of new technology‐based services”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 475‐91. Lundkvist, A. and Yakhlef, A. (2004), “Customer involvement in new service development”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 14 Nos 2/3, pp. 249‐57. Lusch, R.F., Vargo, S.L. and O'Brien, M. (2007), “Competing through service: insights from service‐dominant logic”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 83 No. 1, pp. 5‐18. Luthje, C., Herstatt, C. and von Hippel, E. (2005), “User‐innovators and ‘local’ information: the case of mountain biking”, Research Policy, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 951‐65. Magnusson, P., Kristensson, P. and Hipp, C. (2010), “Exploring the ideation patterns of ordinary users”, International Journal of Product Development, Vol. 11 Nos 3/4, pp. 289‐309. Matthing, J., Sandén, B. and Edvardsson, B. (2004), “New service development: learning from and with customers”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 479‐98. Michel, S., Brown, S.W. and Gallan, A. (2008), “An expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovations: deploying a service – dominant logic”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 54‐66. Mohr, J. and Nevin, J. (1990), “Communication strategies in marketing channels: a theoretical perspective”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 36‐51. Mohr, J. and Sohi, R.S. (1995), “Communication flows in distribution channels: impact on assessments of communication quality and satisfaction”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 71 No. 4, pp. 393‐415. Morgan, R.M. and Hunt, S.D. (1994), “The commitment‐trust theory of relationship marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 3, pp. 20‐38. Morrison, P.D., Roberts, J.H. and von Hippel, E. (2000), “Determinants of user innovation and innovation sharing in a local market”, Management Science, Vol. 46 No. 12, pp. 1513‐27. Narver, J.C., Slater, S.F. and MacLachlan, D.L. (2004), “Responsive and proactive market orientation and new product success”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 334‐47. Ogawa, S. (1998), “Does sticky information affect the locus of innovation? Evidence from the convenience‐store industry”, Research Policy, Vol. 26 Nos 7/8, pp. 777‐90. Olson, E.L. and Bakke, G. (2001), “Implementing the lead user method in a high technology firm: a longitudinal study of intentions versus actions”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 388‐95. Payne, A.F., Storbacka, K. and Frow, P. (2008), “Managing the co‐creation of value”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 83‐96. Prahalad, C.K. and Ramaswamy, V. (2004), The Future of Competition: Co‐creating Unique Value with Customers, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Rogers, E.M. (1962/1995), Diffusion of Innovations, 3rd ed., The Free Press, New York, NY. Skibstedt, J. and Bech Hansen, R. (2011), User‐led Innovation can't Create Breakthroughs; Just Ask Apple and IKEA, available at: www.fastcodesign.com/1663220/user‐led‐innovation‐cant‐create‐breakthroughs‐just‐ask‐apple‐and‐ikea (accessed 7 September). Slater, S.F. and Narver, J.C. (1998), “Customer‐led and market‐oriented: let's not confuse the two”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 19 No. 10, pp. 1001‐6. Smith, A. (2007), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Cosimo Classics, New York, NY (originally published). Song, X.M. and Parry, M.E. (1997a), “A cross‐national comparative study of new product development processes: Japan and the United States”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 61 No. 2, pp. 1‐19. Song, X.M. and Parry, M.E. (1997b), “The determinants of Japanese new product successes”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 64‐76. Steenkamp, J.E.M. and van Trijp, H.C.M. (1996), “Quality guidance: a consumer‐based approach to food quality improvement using partial least squares”, European Review of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 195‐215. Thomke, S. (2003), Experimentation Matters, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Tyre, M.J. and von Hippel, E. (1997), “The situated nature of adaptive learning in organizations”, Organization Science, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 71‐83. Ulwick, A. (2002), “Turn customer input into innovation”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80, January, pp. 91‐7. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004), “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68 No. 1, pp. 1‐17. Vargo, S.L., Morgan, F.W., Akaka, M. and He, Y. (2009), “The service‐dominant logic of marketing: a review and assessment”, Review of Marketing Research, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 125‐67. Victorino, L., Verma, R., Plaschka, G. and Dev, C. (2005), “Service innovation and customer choices in the hospitality industry”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 555‐76. von Hippel, E. (1994), “‘Sticky information’ and the locus of problem solving: implications for innovation”, Management Science, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 429‐39. von Hippel, E. (2005), Democratizing Innovation, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Witell, L., Kristensson, P., Gustafsson, A. and Löfgren, M. (2011), “Idea generation: customer co‐creation versus traditional market research techniques”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 140‐59. Wold, H. (1982), “Systems under indirect observation using PLS”, in Fornell, C. (Ed.), Second Generation of Multivariate Analysis Methods, Praeger, New York, NY.
Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Emerald

Tập 23 Số 3

311-327

Thông tin tác giả