Customer Knowledge Development Research Articles

The role of customer knowledge development for incremental and radical service innovation in servitized manufacturers

Service innovation is a key driver of service infusion for manufacturers. Although service innovation is widely researched for service firms, it is less explored for service infusion in manufacturers. Existing research about service infusion considers developing customer knowledge in sales and service delivery, but there is scarce research about how manufacturers develop customer knowledge during new service development (NSD). This study investigates customer knowledge development within manufacturers and considers how it differs between the development of incremental and radical service innovations. A study was undertaken with 239 European manufacturers which revealed multiple drivers of customer knowledge development, service innovation performance, and firm performance. Developing incremental service innovations are more successful when customers participate in NSD teams while developing radical service innovations leads manufacturers to higher firm performance.

Evaluating team performance and the mediating role of customer knowledge development: An absorptive capacity framework

Abstract Drawing upon an absorptive capacity framework, this study explains team performance from a mediating perspective of customer knowledge development (CKD), which represents a learning process based on customer interaction. The model is tested using the data of innovation or R&D teams from large high-tech firms in Taiwan. The test results show that competence development (i.e., activities that enhance the diversified skills of team members) and pro-customer empathy (i.e., a transference of customers’ problems and emotions) positively relate to team performance via the full mediation of CKD. The positive relationship between shared cognitive map and CKD is negatively moderated by collectivism.

Female entrepreneurship and the role of customer knowledge development, innovation outcome expectations and culture on intentions to start informal business ventures

Informal businesses comprise a large proportion of overall new ventures pursued by entrepreneurs and are often favoured by female entrepreneurs due to their flexible nature and financial potential. The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of female entrepreneurs who are intending to start an informal business by focusing on the role of knowledge and innovation. Drawing from prior research on female entrepreneurship and the informal economy, this paper develops a number of research propositions. The paper proposes that innovation outcome expectation, customer knowledge development, risk averseness, polychronism and collectivism impact on the intention of female entrepreneurs to start informal businesses. These research propositions highlight important gender issues in entrepreneurship that need to be understood by policymakers and government authorities when looking into business development activity. The paper also provides important practical implications that can be used to inform entrepreneurs and suggest avenues for future research.

Assessing Team Performance and the Mediating Role of Customer Knowledge Development

This work validates a model that explains the collective performance of innovation teams from a mediating perspective of customer knowledge development. Drawing upon an absorptive capacity framewor...

Building and Sustaining a Product Differentiation Advantage Through a Community-Focused Strategy

An important reason people join communities is to satisfy their identity needs. Firms might exploit this societal tendency to gain competitive advantages and thus stronger economic profits than rivals. By reviewing the strategic approach adopted by Kiehl's, a U.S. cosmetic producer and retailer, this study investigates a potential mechanism by which firms interact with communities to build a product differentiation advantage. Because it adheres to and supports a well-defined set of values, Kiehl's not only achieves community membership and gains legitimacy but also strengthens the sense of identity that the relevant communities provide to members. These investments prompt reciprocal community member behaviors, which the company channels into its customer knowledge development process. Finally, this study describes how firm–community interactions protect the firm's differentiation advantage by turning its products into symbols of the communities to which Kiehl's customers belong.

Modeling technological innovation performance and its determinants: An aspect of buyer–seller social capital

This study validates a research model that examines technological innovation performance from the aspect of buyer–seller social capital in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. Drawing on social capital theory, this study postulates that innovation performance is indirectly affected by buyer–seller social capital via the mediation of commitment to innovation and customer knowledge development. The commitment to innovation also has an influence on customer knowledge development. The model examines the data obtained from high-tech firms' personnel in Taiwan. The study's test results indicate that innovation performance is positively influenced by shared norms and trust through the mediation of customer knowledge development. Accordingly, innovation performance is also positively influenced by social interaction and shared norm through the mediation of the commitment to innovation. Lastly, managerial implications and limitations from the empirical findings are provided.

Understanding innovation performance and its antecedents: A socio-cognitive model

Little attention in the previous literature has been paid to understanding employees' factors that drive customer development knowledge and performance from the perspective of social psychology. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study validates a research model that examines the above issue. In the setting of new product development across high-tech firms in Taiwan, this study postulates that innovation self-efficacy, role conflict, and role ambiguity influence innovation performance directly and indirectly via the mediation of customer knowledge development and innovation outcome expectation. This study contributes to the social science literature by applying social cognitive theory to the rarely explored area of innovation performance and by presenting an operationalization of role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict) in the area. Lastly, managerial implications and limitations from the empirical findings are provided.

THE IMPACT OF MARKET ORIENTATION ON CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT AND NPD SUCCESS

The ability to develop and understand customer new product preferences in response to changing market trends is shown to be as a key to new product success. Given the significance of developing customer preferences and the increasing use of cross-functional new product teams in the NPD process, the authors examine how customer knowledge development is affected by characteristics of cross-functional new product teams in a market-oriented organizational context. On the basis of a study of 228 new product project managers in the R&D or marketing area, the authors find that customer knowledge development is positively influenced by customer orientation, competitor orientation, and cross-functional integration. Interestingly, lead users' involvement has a positive quadratic effect on customer knowledge development in terms of marketing respondents. However, cross-functional integration weakens the positive effects of both customer orientation and competitor orientation on customer knowledge development. Our results also reveal a clear R&D–marketing split on the main effect of the proposed antecedents.

The effects of customer acquisition and retention orientations on a firm’s radical and incremental innovation performance

The effect of a firm’s strategic focus on acquiring new customers and/or retaining existing customers (customer acquisition and retention orientations) on innovation performance is evaluated. With dyadic primary data collected from 225 strategic business units, the authors demonstrate that a firm’s focus on customer acquisition enhances its radical innovation performance but hinders its incremental innovation; a firm’s strategic orientation toward customer retention has the opposite effects. These effects are mediated by both customer knowledge development and the firm’s resource configuration decisions. In addition, the authors provide insight into the impact of managerial decision trade-offs when implementing customer engagement strategies. The results suggest that the effect of customer acquisition and retention orientations on customer knowledge and investment decisions, and ultimately on innovation performance, is amplified when a firm consistently implements a specific engagement strategy. Implementing a dual strategy by attempting to focus on both acquiring and retaining customers undermines resource configuration decisions, with diverse effects on both radical and incremental innovation.

The effects of market orientation on customer knowledge development: comparison of R&D and marketing

The ability to understand and develop customer new product preferences in response to changing market trends is shown as a key to new product success. Given the significance of developing customer preferences and the increasing use of cross-functional teams in NPD process, this study examine how customer knowledge development is affected by characteristics of cross-functional teams in a market-orientated organizational context. On the basis of a study of 228 new product project managers who are either R&D or marketing specialties, the results indicated that customer knowledge development has positive effects on customer orientation, competitor orientation, and cross-functional integration. Inter2 estingly, lead users' involvement has a positive quadratic effect on customer knowledge development in terms of marketing respondents. However, cross-functional integration weakens the positive effects of both customer orientation and competitor orientation on customer knowledge development. Our results also reveal a clear R&D-marketing split on the main effect of the proposed antecedents

Customer Knowledge and Service Development, the Web 2.0 Role in Co-production

Customer Knowledge and Service Development, the Web 2.0 Role in Co-production

Customer Knowledge Development: Antecedents and Impact on New Product Performance

By enhancing the fit between new product features and customer preferences, the customer knowledge development process fosters new product success. Despite this significant benefit, there is considerable variance in the extent to which firms engage in this process in their new product development projects. This is because not all firms can meet the resource, strategic flexibility, and motivational requirements of the process. In this research, the authors develop a nomological network wherein they identify (1) the organizational actions that enable effective implementation of the customer knowledge development process, (2) the characteristics of new product development projects that moderate the effects of these actions, and (3) the outcomes that are generated by the process. The results from a survey of 165 marketing managers who had recently participated in new product development projects provide substantial support for the nomological network. The authors explore the theoretical and managerial implications that arise from their results and provide future research directions.