Get rid of the eco-button! Design interventions to steer sustainable use of washing machines

To reduce energy consumption of households, many appliances contain eco-settings, which when used, reduce energy consumption. However, the effectivity of the eco-settings in reducing energy consumption is hardly tested. Other design for sustainable behaviour strategies like coercion and feedback might be more effective. To test the effectivity of these three design for sustainable behaviour strategies in reducing the energy consumption of washing machines a 2 × 2 factorial design experiment is conducted. A total of 779 European washing machine users were asked to set washing machine controls for three laundry baskets on one of four control panels. The results showed that eco-settings of the washing machines were used for only 15% of the laundry cycles. Respondents presented with coercion or feedback controls consumed 15% less energy compared to those who were allowed to decide whether to use eco-settings. Few people understood the relation of water temperature and the duration of washing machine programs on energy consumption. Feedback can support their decision processes and prevent unintentional and unsustainable settings. Our research shows that energy efficient washing machines are not necessarily leading to energy reductions because eco-settings are only used in a minority of cases. In this survey, only 6% of the potential 44% savings was realised. The results suggest it would be more effective to always use energy efficient settings, preferably together with feedback and scripting of program menus that solicit the use of short cold cycles. For energy efficiency to be effective, a product must be designed for sustainable behaviour of the user.

An exploratory study of the relation between concrete and abstract product attributes

It is argued that the abstract product attributes that consumers mention in a research setting should not be interpreted as combinations of the more concrete attributes consumers mention. Results from a laddering study show that a majority of elicited abstract product attributes are unrelated to concrete attributes. Furthermore, these unrelated abstract attributes are about different product aspects than the related abstract attributes. These findings are discussed in the light of the problem of ‘actionability', and of models for new product development

The effect of R&D-marketing integration on NPD success - the case of SMEs in the growing economy of Slovenia

This paper investigates the effect of R&D-marketing integration in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in growing economies. In particular, the effects of integration mechanisms (formalisation, centralisation and organisational climate) on cross-functional integration gap and new product development (NPD) success are analysed. Data from Slovenian SMEs were collected through a questionnaire survey. The effect of R&D-marketing integration on NPD success was analysed with factor analysis, correlations analysis and partial least square analysis. The results of the study demonstrate similar effects of organisational climate on the cross-functional integration gap and NPD success in Slovenia as reported in Western countries. Significant direct effects of formalisation and organisational climate on NPD success are also found. Centralisation, however, has no significant effect, neither on the cross-functional integration gap nor on NPD success. This study contributes to R&D-marketing integration research by providing a modified set of integration mechanisms effects on R&D-marketing integration and NPD success for SMEs. The model can be applied to SMEs in growing economies for the assessment of R&D-marketing integration in order to increase NPD success