The Influence of Temporal Distance on Consumer Preferences for Technology‐Based Innovations*

Rapid technological developments in the computer and the telecommunications industries have spurred the introduction of technology‐based products. An important feature of these products is that they can be characterized based on improvements in the functionality and the interface. When consumers evaluate a technology‐based product, they face a trade‐off: How should they choose between a product that offers a superior functionality and another product that offers a superior interface? The present research focuses on how temporal distance (i.e., time) from the purchase or use occasion of a technology‐based innovation influences consumers' evaluations of the new product. Specifically, the present study examines how temporal distance affects the trade‐offs consumers make between improvements in the interface and improvements in the functionality of a new product. This research demonstrates that the weight consumers place on the functionality and the interface of a new product is a function of the temporal distance. Specifically, the functionality of the product is valued more in distant future events. In contrast, the interface of the product is more important in the near future. This research has direct implications for various aspects of the new product development process such as customer‐product research methods used, communication strategies, and product preannouncements.     

Why and When Are the Self‐Employed More Satisfied with Their Work?

Analysis confirms that the self-employed are more satisfied with their jobs because their work provides more autonomy, flexibility, and skill utilization and greater job security. These underlying mechanisms have been stable over the last 30 years and are not due simply to personality differences. The self-employed job satisfaction advantage is relatively small or nonexistent among managers and members of the established professions—occupations where organizational workers have relatively high autonomy and skill utilization.     

Global Innovation in MNCs: The Effects of Subsidiary Self‐Determination and Teamwork*

The ability of multinational corporations (MNCs) to leverage their innovation competencies across globally dispersed subsidiaries is an increasingly valuable source of competitive advantage. As multinational enterprises turn to foreign subsidiaries for research and development (R&D) and product development, questions arise regarding the most effective organizational structures for global innovation. Although organizational conditions that satisfy the needs for self‐determination and teamwork have long been considered intrinsic motivators, past research has not analyzed the consequences of intrinsic motivators on global innovation. The basic research question is this: In globally dispersed subsidiary R&D units, what organizational conditions and motivators are associated with the highest knowledge output? A sample of 275 globally dispersed R&D subsidiaries were studied from 1995 to 2002. Data were collected from a postal survey, field and telephone interviews, and secondary sources. Subsidiary self‐determination and teamwork were found to have a significant effect on knowledge output, as objectively measured by patent citations. Subsidiary self‐determination on inputs such as sourcing and hiring, and self‐determination on outputs such as marketing and product development, emerged as positive determinants of knowledge generation in R&D subsidiaries. In addition, interteam cooperation and intrateam cooperation were significant determinants of knowledge generation by subsidiaries. These findings highlight the importance of self‐determination, teamwork, and cooperation to knowledge creation and innovations. Managers face the tough challenge of how to motivate globally dispersed knowledge workers to conduct research that will generate knowledge and will strengthen firm performance. The results provide theoretical and practical insights on how MNCs can leverage their innovation competencies across foreign R&D subsidiaries.     

Why Customers Value Self‐Designed Products: The Importance of Process Effort and Enjoyment*

This study analyzes which factors prompt customers to attribute value to products they design themselves using mass‐customization (MC) toolkits. The assumption that self‐design delivers superior customer value is fundamental to the concept of MC toolkits and can be found in almost any conceptual work in this field. However, spectacular failures reinforce the practical relevance of developing a deeper understanding of why and when MC toolkits generate value for customers—and when they do not. Research to date has assumed that the closer fit between the self‐designed product's characteristics and the preferences of the customer is the dominant source of value. In this research, it is asked whether the enjoyment and perceived effort of the self‐design process have an additional impact on the perceived value of self‐designed products. This question is interesting because one could argue that a rational actor would hardly be willing to pay ex post for an economic good already consumed. The hypotheses are tested on 186 participants designing their own scarves with an MC toolkit. After completing the process, they submitted binding bids for “their” products in Vickrey auctions. Therefore, real buying behavior, not merely stated intentions, is observed. The present study finds that the subjective value of a self‐designed product (i.e., one's bid in the course of the auction) is indeed impacted not only by the preference fit the customer expects it to deliver but also by (1) the process enjoyment the customer reports, (2) the interaction of preference fit and process enjoyment, and (3) the interaction of preference fit and perceived process effort. In addition to its main effect, preference fit can be interpreted as a moderator of the value‐generating effect of process evaluation: in cases where the outcome of the process is perceived as positive (high preference fit), the customer also interprets process effort as a positive accomplishment, and this positive effect adds (further) value to the product. It appears that the perception of the self‐design process as a good or bad experience is partly constructed on the basis of the outcome of the process. In the opposite case (low preference fit), effort creates a negative effect that further reduces the subjective value of the product. Likewise, process enjoyment is amplified by preference fit, although enjoyment also has a significant main effect, which means that regardless of the outcome, customers attribute higher value to a self‐designed product if they enjoy the process. In a way, this effect resembles of the classic story of Tom Sawyer and the fence, in which Tom manages to “frame” the tedious chore of whitewashing a fence as a rare opportunity—thus persuading his friends to pay him for letting them work. Manufacturers designing an MC system therefore are advised to designing MC toolkits in a way that they elicit positive affective reactions that make their customers value their work.     

The Citizen‐Consumer as Industrial Relations Actor: New Ways of Working and the End‐user in Social Care

This article explores the role of the citizen‐consumer as an actor in public service industrial relations. Based on research into the New Types of Worker programme in social care, the article considers how new work roles engage end‐users as citizen‐consumers in work relations and their consequences for stakeholders. It highlights the forms assumed by these roles and the factors influencing their development and impact, concluding that if the citizen‐consumer is to be treated as an actor in industrial relations, researchers must show greater sensitivity to the categories of end‐users and to the service context.     

Perspective: New Product Failure Rates: Influence of Argumentum ad Populum and Self‐Interest

A persistent myth in product innovation and management is that the failure rate of new products is 80% or higher. How does this false idea continue to displace the conclusions of empirical studies since 1977 that the new product failure rate is 40% or less? We examine the influence of a fallacy that encourages people's unthinking acceptance of ideas on new product failure rates and whose appeal rests primarily on an emotional, rather than a reasoned, argument. Self‐interest also plays a major role in keeping this myth alive.     

Time‐use and well‐being impacts of travel‐to‐work and travel‐for‐work

This article contributes to our understanding of the complex patterns of travel‐to‐work and travel‐for‐work which increasingly characterise highly skilled employment, using 2015 data from a UK Midlands study comprising an online survey and follow‐up interviews. Travel‐to‐work essentially lengthens the working day, and is difficult to use productively, especially when commuting by car. Travel‐for‐work, by contrast, results in intense schedules especially when requiring overnight stays. Ownership of travel‐for‐work is ambiguous: it is employer driven, and travel time is often spent productively using mobile technologies, but is rarely rewarded with TOIL. While general dissatisfaction is reported with the commute, negative effects of travel‐for‐work (family, health, reduced leisure time) are mediated by positive impacts including experience of new working cultures, and infrequency of travel. Four factors appear central to the differing well‐being impacts: (1) frequency of travel; (2) ability to plan travel; (3) productive use of travel time, and; (4) reciprocal benefits of travel.     

Information in Launch Messages: Stimulating the Adoption of New High‐Tech Consumer Products

This research investigates how the adoption of new high‐tech consumer products can be stimulated by communicating product‐related information in launch messages. In an initial pilot study, the authors find that for making an adoption decision, consumers require different types of product‐related information, i.e., technical information, financial information, and personal/social information. In three experiments, the authors then examine how adoption intention and behavior is affected by communicating these information types. The first experiment shows that communicating personal/social information results in the highest adoption intention. This effect is moderated by the way in which the information is represented in the message. Adoption intention is highest when personal/social information is communicated in an abstract manner, while financial and technical information are most effective when communicated in a concrete manner. The second experiment shows that the effects hold for actual adoption behavior. In addition, visual imagination is found to mediate these effects. In the last experiment, visual imagination is directly manipulated by thematic priming and has a direct effect on adoption behavior. The results emphasize that activating the imagination in a product‐relevant situation stimulates adoption behavior.     

False Self‐Employment,Autonomy and Regulating for Decent Work: Improving Working Conditions in the UK Stripping Industry

A large‐scale study of working conditions in UK‐based strip dancing clubs reveals that dancers are against de facto self‐employment as it is defined and practised by management, but in favour of de jure self‐employment that ensures sufficient levels of autonomy and control in the workplace. While dancers could potentially seek ‘worker’ or ‘employee’ status within the existing legal framework, their strong identification with the label ‘self‐employed’ and their desire for autonomy will likely inhibit these labour rights claims. We propose an alternative avenue for improving dancers’ working conditions, whereby self‐employed dancers articulate their grievances as a demand for decent work, pursued through licensing agreements between clubs and local authorities and facilitated by collective organization.     

The Impact of Fit Measures on the Consumer Evaluation of New Co‐Branded Products*

A popular strategy currently employed for new product introductions is co‐branding. Such a strategy allows a brand to innovate with the support of a partner brand. The present study investigates how consumers perceive a new product with two brands. Previous research focused on the logic of a brand combination by investigating the impact of the fit between both existing product categories (i.e., product‐product fit) and the fit between both brand images (i.e., brand‐brand fit) on the evaluation of a new co‐branded product. However, no study has yet focused on the relationships between both brands and their existing product categories, and the specific new product that has been developed. The present paper aims to improve the understanding of the potential benefits of co‐branding by taking the role of the new product into account. The empirical study discussed in this paper replicates and extends the model of Simonin and Ruth (1998) by adding two new measures to their model. These measures are related to the fit of both existing product categories with the new product (i.e., new‐product‐product fit) and the fit of both brand images with the new product (i.e., new‐product‐brand fit). The results from this empirical study with 210 consumers in The Netherlands show that product‐product fit, brand‐brand fit, and new‐product‐brand fit have a significant positive impact on the evaluation of a new co‐branded product. New‐product‐product fit was not significantly related to consumer evaluations. In addition, the results show that consumers prefer a new co‐branded product that can be clearly associated with one of the brands in the partnership so that it can be categorized unambiguously. This paper discusses these findings and provides implications for research and managerial practice in the important and growing field of brand‐driven innovation.     

Consumer Research to Focus R&D Projects

R&D occurs early in the design stage of a telecommunications product that will be aimed at an unfulfilled market need. New technologies offer some exciting possibilities but the R&D team needs guidance in focusing their technologies on the right set of user benefits. In this article, John R. Hauser uses a case study to show how consumer theory and models for evaluating new product concepts can be used to provide R&D management with diagnostic information to improve the chances of innovation success. It's a good example of how management science can be applied to management problems.     

The lasting qualities of PERT: Preferences and perceptions of R&D project managers

This survey was conducted on the perceived popularity of PERT and PERT-type management systems; whether PERT'S applications were static, increasing, or decreasing, and whether its use was by choice or imposition. The extent of applications of PERT for managing various types of research and development (R&D) was examined with the view to ascertaining its individual popularity when applied to (a) basic research, (b) applied research, or (c) development projects. In addition, an inquiry was made into the estimated expense of PERT systems to plan and control projects as a percentage of the budget. The results of the survey are presented and discussed relative to various sizes of R&D organizations.     

Perspective: The Stage‐Gate® Idea‐to‐Launch Process—Update,What's New,and NexGen Systems*

Stage‐Gate has become a popular system for driving new products to market, and the benefits of using such a robust idea‐to‐launch system have been well documented. However, there are many misconceptions and challenges in using Stage‐Gate. First, Stage‐Gate is briefly outlined, noting how the system should work and the structure of both stages and gates. Next, some of the misconceptions about Stage‐Gate—it is not a linear process, nor is it a rigid system—are debunked, and explanations of what Stage‐Gate is and is not are provided. The challenges faced in employing Stage‐Gate are identified, including governance issues, overbureaucratizing the process, and misapplying cost‐cutting systems such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing to product innovation. Solutions are offered, including better governance methods such as “gates with teeth,” clearly defined gatekeepers, and gatekeeper rules of engagement, as well as ways to deal with bureaucracy, including leaner gates. Next‐generation versions of Stage‐Gate are introduced, notably a scalable system (to handle many different types and sizes of projects), as well as even more flexible and adaptable versions of Stage‐Gate achieved via spiral development and simultaneous execution. Additionally, Stage‐Gate now incorporates better decision‐making practices including scorecards, success criteria, self‐managed gates, electronic and virtual gates, and integration with portfolio management. Improved accountability and continuous improvement are now built into Stage‐Gate via a rigorous postlaunch review. Finally, progressive companies are reinventing Stage‐Gate for use with “open innovation,” whereas others are applying the principles of value stream analysis to yield a leaner version of Stage‐Gate.     

Inter‐Firm Training Co‐ordination in Britain

This paper examines employer co‐operation in the provision of training. Such collective action has a long history in Britain, but has varied over time in extent and strength. It exists in a strong form in the German‐speaking countries, where employers’ organizations and chambers of commerce are a fundamental part of the training system. On the basis of new data, we argue that this form of training is important in the UK and has a positive effect on the quantity and quality of training. Case studies are presented on several examples of collective action — a local chamber of commerce, an industry‐wide employers’ organization, a group training association, a network of firms in a large company’s supply chain and a local consortium of big employers. Although such forms of organization have much to commend them, in the UK coverage is uneven and stability is fragile.     

Robust Testing of the Utility‐based High‐technology Product Sales Forecasting Models Proposed by Decker and Gnibba‐Yukawa (2010)

Decker and Gnibba‐Yukawa (2010) propose an elegant utility‐based model for forecasting the sales of high‐technology products and suggest that the model yields forecasts that are highly accurate. However, this finding is based on forecasts for a total of only six holdout observations shared across three products. This number of observations is insufficient for reliable inferences to be drawn about the accuracy of a method and the use of such a small data set runs counter to an accepted principle of forecast evaluation. The authors’ proposed model was tested on more extensive data and sensitivity analysis applied to the results. No evidence was found that the utility‐based model could outperform a relatively simple extrapolative model despite the much greater effort involved in applying the proposed model. In addition, the utility‐based model is only applicable for forecasting sales during a narrow interval in a product's life cycle and requires several periods of historic sales data before it can be implemented. It also depends heavily on the accurate estimates of parameters that are determined outside the model (and which may depend on difficult judgments by managers) and assumes that consumers or households will only purchase the product once between the launch date and the forecast horizon. In light of this, it is argued that the utility‐based model is likely to have limited usefulness as a sales forecasting tool.     

The Effect of Personal and Virtual Word‐of‐Mouth on Technology Acceptance

This paper extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to incorporate the impact of personal and virtual word‐of‐mouth (pWOM and vWOM). The authors hypothesize that both types of word‐of‐mouth will be positively related with consumer perceptions of innovation usefulness and perceived ease of use. In addition, the authors examine two competing hypotheses regarding the relative impact of pWOM and vWOM on perceptions of innovation attributes. One hypothesis argues that potential adopters place more weight on pWOM sources because they perceive relatively more similarity between themselves and pWOM sources. The alternative hypothesis argues that potential adopters place more weight on vWOM sources because those sources (relative to pWOM sources) expose potential adopters to a wider variety of information and a larger number of experts. Finally, the authors argue that symbolic product usage will enhance the relationship between word‐of‐mouth and consumer perceptions of innovation attributes. These hypotheses are tested using data collected in Japan from over 600 potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders and smart phones. Findings indicate that, in both product categories, pWOM and vWOM are positively and significantly related with perceived ease of use. Moreover, in both samples pWOM is positively and significantly related with perceived usefulness, while vWOM is significantly related with perceived usefulness only in the smart phone sample. With regard to the relative impact of pWOM and vWOM on perceptions of innovation attributes, results indicate that vWOM has a larger impact on potential adopter perceptions of ease of use. Finally, the estimated model provides support for the hypothesis that symbolic consumption increases the impact of word‐of‐mouth on perceptions of innovation attributes. In particular, findings indicate that the impact of pWOM on perceptions of innovation usefulness is higher among potential adopters of smart phones than among potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders. Similarly, the impact of vWOM on perceptions of ease of use is higher among potential smart phone adopters than among potential adopters of Blu‐ray DVD recorders.     

Black and White Preferences for Neighborhood Racial Composition

The research investigates the existence, nature and magnitude of the preferences of races to voluntarily "self-segregate" into particular areas of urban housing markets. Housing market theory is employed to develop a model showing how housing price variations within a group can provide unambiguous evidence of their preferences for neighborhood racial composition. The model is operationalized in a multiple regression specification wherein the variations in a given racial group's housing prices become a function of the dwelling's attributes and the attributes of the neighborhood (including quality, status, stability and density) as well as housing submarket location and racial composition. The size and statistical significance of the coefficient of the last attribute provides the evidence sought.
The regressions are estimated using two micro-household data bases from St. Louis (1967) and Wooster, Ohio (1975), and results compared. Results show that St. Louis black owners had an aversion to larger black proportions within black submarket neighborhoods, with .7% lower housing prices associated with a 1% higher percentage black. Racial effects for black owners in preponderantly white areas and for black renters in all areas were statistically insignificant. St. Louis whites of both tenures did not demonstrate aversion to neighborhoods with higher percentages of blacks as long as they remained 25% black or less. In areas 25–50% black, however, white prices were 1.5% lower for owners and 3.2% lower for renters per 1% higher proportion black. Such associations continued in majority-black areas, although the magnitudes of the price effect became progressively smaller. Wooster whites showed an aversion to living in neighborhoods having even a few percent of blacks, with prices 11% lower for owners and 7% lower for renters in such areas compared to all-white ones.