Consumer evaluation of collaboration between perfumery and gastronomy for innovation

Abstract

This paper contributes to the research on collaborative entrepreneurship by studying consumers' perception and evaluation of interindustry collaborations between perfumery and gastronomy for new product development. First, we review the literature and secondary documents to identify potential variables about consumers' perceived industry-level fit between collaborating partners and consumer knowledge, which we assume to influence consumers' evaluation of collaboration. Second, we interview professionals in the two industries to further refine these variables, operationalise them into measurable constructs, and add new moderating variables specific to the context. Third, we conduct an online survey of consumers, testing our hypotheses. Our research reveals that the presence of consumers' perceived industry-level similarities suffices to leverage their possible doubts on industry-level dissimilarities when evaluating the relevance of inter-industry collaboration for new product development. Consumers' relative openness to inter-industry collaborations provides an encouraging signal for companies to push the frontier and seek inspiration from seemingly distant sectors.