Bridging the Gap Between Product Design and Customer Engagement: Role of Self-Determined Needs Satisfaction

Hammad Bin Azam Hashmi,Adeel Khalid,Chengli Shu,Syed Waqar Haider,Yasin Munir

doi:10.1177/21582440211056598

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the influence of product design on customer engagement through self-determined needs satisfaction. This study used the survey method in three ways: (1) mall intercept approach, (2) email survey, and (3) survey through Wechat. The sample was collected from 500 customers of electronic products living in Xi’an, China. The data analysis is done through structural equation modeling. Findings show that perceived product design in terms of functional, esthetic, and symbolic design is positively related to self-determined needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence) satisfaction. Furthermore, results reveal that self-determined needs satisfaction has a positive influence on customer engagement. The moderation results show that prevention focused customers moderate the relationship between functional design and self-determined needs satisfaction. Whereas, promotion focused customers moderate the relationship between esthetic design and self-determined needs satisfaction. This study adds value to the self-determination theory by examining the link between product design dimensions and customer engagement through self-determined needs satisfaction. Furthermore, this study adds value to the existing literature on regulatory focus theory.

Highlights

Considerable studies have analyzed the relationship between product design and several consumer behaviors such as customer pleasure (Desmet, 2012; Desmet & Hekkert, 2007), customer loyalty (Hsu et al, 2018), customer satisfaction, and purchase intention (Moon et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2018) and consumer preferences(Marques da Rosa et al, 2019), little focus has been given to the customer engagement in relation to product design
This study aims at exploring the link between perceived product design and customer engagement
Findings suggest that product design in terms of functional, perceived esthetic, and symbolic design are significantly associated with self-determined needs satisfaction

Summary

Introduction

Considerable studies have analyzed the relationship between product design and several consumer behaviors such as customer pleasure (Desmet, 2012; Desmet & Hekkert, 2007), customer loyalty (Hsu et al, 2018), customer satisfaction, and purchase intention (Moon et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2018) and consumer preferences(Marques da Rosa et al, 2019), little focus has been given to the customer engagement in relation to product design. Marketing researchers are looking forward to identifying the predictors and outcomes of customer engagement and understanding the mechanism through which predictors shape customer engagement (Abbasi et al, 2020; Barari et al, 2021; Harmeling et al, 2017; Joshi & Garg, 2021; Khan et al, 2019; Pansari & Kumar, 2017; Rasool et al, 2020; Sabir, 2020) In this regard, product design can initiate a useful point in understanding the product-customer relationship.

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