The effectiveness of customer participation in new product development: A meta-analysis

Woojung Chang, Steven A. Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

393 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although the returns of customer participation on new product development (NPD) performance can vary substantially, the current literature lacks a systematic conceptual and empirical integration showing when customer participation is valuable in enhancing NPD performance. Building on knowledge management theory, the authors present a conceptual framework that synthesizes a variety of contingency factors. A meta-analysis empirically examines the moderating effects of contextual factors between customer participation and NPD performance. The analysis reveals that involving customers in the ideation and launch stages of NPD improves new product financial performance directly as well as indirectly through acceleration of time to market, whereas customer participation in the development phase slows down time to market, deteriorating new product financial performance. Furthermore, the benefits of customer participation on NPD performance are greater in technologically turbulent NPD projects, in emerging countries, in low-tech industries, for business customers, and for small firms. The authors discuss several theoretical and managerial implications about when to engage customers in the innovation process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)47-64
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Marketing
Volume80
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2016

Keywords

  • Customer participation
  • Knowledge management
  • Meta-analysis
  • New product development
  • New product development performance

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The effectiveness of customer participation in new product development: A meta-analysis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this