顾客参与新产品开发中顾客角色探究

Customer Roles in Customer Participation in New Product Development

摘要:

在外部环境及企业内部需求的推动下,顾客参与企业新产品开发的现象增多,其重要性也获得了学术界的广泛认可。然而,现有研究没有将顾客的多重角色与顾客参与的作用效果和影响因素联系起来。本研究引入顾客在新产品开发中作为资源、共同创造者、用户的三种角色,探明不同的项目复杂性和产品创新性下,顾客的三种角色对新产品绩效的影响会有怎样的不同；同时,探索企业如何通过企业关系治理机制促使顾客角色得到有效发挥。结果发现：（1）双边专项投资、关系规范都能促进顾客角色的发挥；（2）产品创新性能加强顾客作为资源、用户对新产品绩效的作用，而削弱顾客作为共同创造者对新产品绩效的作用；（3）项目复杂性能加强顾客作为资源、共同创造者对新产品绩效的作用。

关键词:新产品开发;顾客参与;经济机制;关系机制;项目特征

Abstract:

Driven by external environment and internal demand, more and more firms involve customers in their new product development. Although scholars recognized the importance of customer participation in new product development, there is still no research combining customer roles with the antecedents and outcomes of customer participation. This study focuses on customer role as resource, co-creator and user in participation in new product development. It investigates the relationship between customer roles and new product performance under different product innovativeness and project complexity, and it also examines how to implement customer roles through organizational relationship governance mechanism. Our results show that: (1) Transaction-specific investment and relational norms both facilitate the implementation of customer roles. (2) Product innovativeness strengthens the effect of the customer role as resource and user on new product performance. It weakens the effect of customer role as co-creator. (3) Project complexity strengthens the effect of the customer role as resource and co-creator on new product performance.

Key words:New Product Development; Customer Participation; Economic Mechanism; Relational Mechanism; Project Attributes