User characteristics for customer involvement in innovation processes : deconstructing the Lead User-concept

Despite the growing evidence of the beneficial nature of customer and user involvement in new product or service development, research into user types and customer characteristics for innovation is still scarce. One notable exception can be found in the literature dealing with the so-called Lead User. Although there is a substantial research corpus dealing with Lead User innovation, the integration of Lead Users or Lead User-methods is definitely not common within most firms. We believe that disentangling the Lead Userconcept into more concrete user types and customer characteristics would benefit and optimize user involvement in innovation processes. Within this paper, we describe six user types based on five dimensions, associated with the Lead User-concept and abstracted from various literature streams. We further propose some guidelines for an optimal integration of these users within innovation methodologies and sketch out some lines for future research

Innovate with living labs: an empirical analysis of their role during knowledge creation

In Living Labs, customers experiment with innovations in an everyday context. Policy makers, firms and research institutions increasingly invest in such knowledge brokers which facilitate collaboration between diverse parties. This study establishes common characteristics of Living Labs and investigates their role during experiential knowledge creation. Drawing on a unique sample of 64 Living Labs, this research blends quantitative and qualitative research in two steps. First, Categorical Principal Components Analysis extracts two meta-characteristics, user contribution and contextual reality which identify four clusters of Living Labs. Second, the assessment of in-depth interviews offers a fine-grained picture of the impact of these characteristics on knowledge outcomes and its limitation in generating radical changes

A fourfold typology of living labs: an empirical investigation amongst the ENoLL community

Living Labs can be seen as a means to structure user involvement in innovation processes. However, in this rather young research domain, there is no consensus yet regarding supporting theories and frameworks. This has resulted in a wide variety of projects and approaches being called ‘Living Labs’, which leaves a clear conceptualization and definition a task in progress. Within this research paper we propose a fourfold categorization of Living Labs based on a literature review and validated by an empirical investigation of the characteristics of 64 ICT Living Labs from the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). The four types are Living Labs for collaboration and knowledge support activities, original ‘American’ Living Labs, Living Labs as extension to testbeds and Living Labs that support context research and co-creation with users

The playground effect: how augmented reality drives creative customer engagement

Across various customer experiences, Augmented Reality (AR) is emerging as a strategic experience design tool. This study contributes to an emerging body of research on the use of AR in the early stages of customers’ purchase journeys. Extending previous research, we propose that AR enables a unique form of customer creativity that is distinct from prior conceptualizations of creativity through its association with customer engagement. Specifically, we propose a sequential process of creative customer engagement, in which AR-enabled customer creativity stems from heightened customer engagement and, in turn, offers a source of intrinsic satisfaction for customers. In an experiment with a customer-facing AR application, we empirically demonstrate this sequential mediation process connecting the use of AR with customer engagement, customer creativity, and anticipated satisfaction. We also identify an important boundary condition based on a customer’s assessment orientation, suggesting a novel behavioral effect in the context of regulatory mode theory

Disrupting marketing realities: A research agenda for investigating the psychological mechanisms of next‐generation experiences with reality‐enhancing technologies

Reality‐enhancing technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality are rapidly becoming a part of everyday life. Seizing this moment, we set out a research agenda for studying the psychological mechanisms underpinning consumer experiences with these new technologies, structured around four application areas: (1) delivering innovative offerings, (2) supporting sustainability and consumer well‐being interventions, (3) balancing value cocreation and privacy concerns, and (4) achieving new modes and means of impact. For each area, we identify research directions that can guide the development and use of reality‐enhancing technologies for the realization of next‐generation consumer experiences. We explicitly balance potential advantages and disadvantages, thus encouraging researchers and practitioners to prioritize developing the “purpose” of these technologies, by focusing on the psychological mechanisms that underlie their use, over the technological development of their “pixels.” In this way, we guide the impactful development of reality‐enhancing technologies for applications with significance for consumers and firms

Touching the untouchable: exploring multi-sensory augmented reality in the context of online retailing

Mental intangibility during product evaluation remains one of the greatest drawbacks for online purchasing. However, emerging multi-sensory Augmented Reality (m-AR) applications offer a potential solution for this online retailing problem. Drawing on active inference theory, this article proposes a conceptual framework to assess how sensory control and feedback modalities affect consumer value judgements by reducing mental intangibility. We show how touch control, compared to voice control, positively affects consumers’ willingness-to-pay. The underlying mechanism is a sequential process of reduced mental intangibility and increased feeling of decision comfort. In addition, we highlight a positive moderating effect of congruent auditory feedback on decision comfort. We also demonstrate a novel consumer boundary condition. Consumers high in assessment orientation experience a stronger reduction in mental intangibility. The results are consistently replicated across three experiments implying theoretical and managerial contributions for m-AR in the context of online retailing

How to strategically choose or combine augmented and virtual reality for improved online experiential retailing

Despite the promise of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to help experiential retailers align online and offline experiences, guidance on choosing or combining these technologies is lacking. In three experiments, we address this research gap by investigating the individual and combined impact of AR and VR on key marketing objectives. First, we establish that AR is more effective in stimulating purchase intentions than VR, due to its ability to support customers in fluent product-focused mental imagery. Second, we demonstrate that VR is better suited for improving brand attitudes than AR, as it helps customers to form fluent context-focused mental imagery. Third, we show that AR and VR, in combination, can improve both purchase intentions and brand attitudes, but only when the order of deployment is sequenced as AR then VR. This is due to greater alignment with the customer's online-to-offline journey in experiential retail. When deployed the other way around, we observe a detrimental impact on purchase intentions and a potential harmful impact on brand attitudes. Our research offers a nuanced theoretical perspective of AR and VR in marketing and provides experiential retailers with evidence-based guidelines for leveraging AR and VR within their online retailing strategy