Moderating Effect of Customer Engagement on New Product Development Capability and New Product Performance in Baby-Diaper Industry in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: This study assessed the effect of new product development on new product performance of selected manufacturers of baby-diapers in Lagos State, Nigeria, more so, it examined the moderating effect of customer engagement on the relationship between new product development and new product performance. Methodology: This study employed a cross-sectional survey design and a sample of 262 employees of three manufacturers of baby-diapers in Lagos State, Nigeria. The hierarchical regression analysis to test two-way interaction hypotheses was conducted. Findings: The results show that new product development has a positive and significant effect on new product performance (R2 =0.273, F(1,260) =97.409, p =0.000). Further analysis shows that customer engagement explained the increase experienced in new product performance (ΔR2 = 0.168, ΔF(1,559) = 77.565, p =0.000) with the introduction of customer engagement as a moderator. Implications: The findings suggest the need for Product and Marketing managers in the baby-diaper industry to imbibe innovative production management process. This is because such innovative production process can serve as a strategy to manage erratic customer behaviours, disrupt competitive rivalry in new product development, and position the new product development offering to have unique appeal to the customers. Also it is imperative for management to create platforms to reach out to customers particularly during the new product development process; this is because it helps to harvest first-hand information regarding what the consumers will buy repeatedly.