Co-creation in new product development: Which drivers of consumer participation?

The present study investigates co-creation in new product development by providing a conceptual background in the psychological factors favoring consumer participation in company processes. The work explores the consumers' profiles willing to participate in co-creation, through the identification of their personality traits, key motivations, and barriers. Two product typologies are investigated, namely high-tech and high-touch products through survey research on a sample of Italian consumers. Results from structural equation modeling show that consumers' personality traits affect the perceived motivations and barriers to co-create, in turn shaping their willingness to co-create. Furthermore, consumer willingness to co-create varies depending on the product typology. Under a managerial viewpoint, the research study provides practitioners with keys to design targeted co-creation activities, fitting with the specific product typology and audience, and to devise the most suitable participation incentives to offer

Do not forget about the price tag! A neuroscientific approach to delve into the influence of colour and price reduction on product perception

Information cues associated with pricing schemes represent a major driver affecting consumer perception. Minor variations of the information set bear a significant influence at the cognitive level directly influencing the consumer’s automatic responses and in turn her behaviour. The present study analysed such reactions to different combinations of colour and price reduction schemes through the consumer neuroscience tools including the analysis of physiological, behavioural, as well as self-reported cognitive responses. An experimental investigation involving 80 subjects in a 2x2 between subject design was set out to compare responses to high-priced and low-priced products associated with a price reduction scheme (relative vs absolute price discount) and coloured price tag (long-wavelenght vs black-coloured). Findings show how the combination of orange and percentage-off price reduction tended to attract the ocular attention for longer time spans and induce higher returning rates. Whereas, reward-related cortical activations showed how black-priced labels affected positively the observer across the two product categories. Furthermore, long-wavelength coloured price tags resulted to elicit higher arousal than black ones. Lastly, self-reported data pointed to a higher perceived positive affect related the low-priced product discounted in relative terms. The discussion focuses on research and managerial implications

Better off alone? An analysis of behavioral characteristics of electronic gaming machine players

Which is the effect of social interactions on individuals’ gambling behavior? The answer research provides is contradictory: form one side it is suggested that gamblers playing alone are more likely to increase their gambling frequency and betting risk when compared to players who gamble in group, often paired with a rise in aggressive behavior. On the other hand, studies showed that the mere presence of other players might encourage gambling, increasing stakes and shortening betting intervals. This work explores the behavioral characteristics of electronic gaming machines players along different game events and analyses the influence of social interactions on their gambling behavior. The study, conducted in slot halls, involves ethnographic observation and the analysis of gamblers’ facial micro-expressions through a face recognition technology. Results reveal that only certain game events elicit manifest behavioral responses in players. Further, findings show that the presence of other players might positively influence the gambling conduct, constituting an element of prevention in the onset of negative valence behavioral responses. The discussion focuses on the mechanisms aimed at favoring social interactions during gambling

Advancing User Research in Naturalistic Gambling Environments Through Behaviour Tracking. A Pilot Study

User research has widely employed ethnography to gain insights into the player-gaming terminal interaction in naturalistic gambling settings. However, inconsistencies in operationalisation and a lack of rigour in research procedures have been identified as limitations. In this paper, we address these issues by first advocating for the use of behavioural recording technology to support user research. We present a set of quantitative metrics extracted from non-invasive techniques, including video and audio recordings, that capture facial expressions, paralinguistic cues, proxemics, kinesics, and interactive haptic behaviours. Next, we examine the expert evaluation process as a structured analysis framework, including the mapping of environmental variables, the transparent and reproducible operationalization of a research protocol, and the interpretation of data. A pilot study is presented to provide practical guidelines for conducting user research in natural gambling environments. Our findings contribute to user research methodologies and highlight the potential advantages of the proposed approach, including its applicability, ethical considerations, and reliability

How did you feel during the navigation? Influence of emotions on browsing time and interaction frequency in immersive virtual environments

Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) represent virtual settings that simulate the physical world. Users interacting in such virtual venues commonly display behaviours like the ones that would occur in the physical world. However, little is known about how the affective states experienced while browsing IVEs may in turn, influence user's interactive behaviour. The present research investigates how affect in terms of arousal and valence generated by IVEs influences browsing time and interaction frequency. Three studies analyse various facets of affect in IVEs. Study 1 investigates the cognitive responses and shows that browsing time is positively affected by self-reported arousal. Study 2 analyses neurophysiological responses and demonstrates consistent results with Study 1. It further shows that physiological correlates of arousal and valence positively influence interaction frequency. Study 3 delves into personal interest, a recurring factor emerged in the two previous studies, and investigates its interaction with arousal. Findings show that in a high arousal IVE, highly interested users are more likely to browse longer than low-interested users. Overall, the results show that behavioural realism evoked in IVEs involves both users' actions and affective states. Implications in terms of design guidelines to foster positive affect in IVEs are drawn

See me, feel me, impulse buy me. An analysis of physiological and behavioural responses to unplanned and impulsive online purchases

The phenomenon of Impulse Buying, conceptualised as a sudden act of purchase with no pre-shopping intentions driven by short-terministic decision-making and a compelling urge to purchase, has gained upswing due to the spreading of e-commerce activities. Traditional literature pertaining to economics and psychology has tended to investigate the subject relying on self-reported measures, often discounting the underlying automatic and implicit mechanisms driving the impulsive online purchase. The present work was intended to characterise the online impulsive purchasing behaviour by complementing self-reports with physiological and behavioural responses. The study encompassed an experimental investigation involving 76 healthy right-handed subjects who faced the possibility to perform an actual purchase on a renown online marketplace either spending a limited provided monetary endowment or employing a larger amount of money received in a previous unrelated experimental phase. During each session three different signals were acquired, namely electroencephalogram, electrodermal activity and ocular responses. Muscular and ocular artefacts were identified and removed from the electroencephalogram signal through independent component analysis using detection through predefined topographies and the resultant was processed to compute attention, memorisation, approach-withdrawal, and engagement indexes. Electrodermal activity was processed to extract arousal metrics through continuous decomposition analysis. Whereas eye-tracking signal was employed to detect the instants of the first fixation on the bought product and to assess the different purchasing phases. Results highlighted that the process of online impulse buying stems from a combination of impulse spending traits and unplanned purchasing actions, which results in post-purchase guilt. Specifically, impulse spending traits appear to be mainly driven by personality traits and physiological arousal, whereas unplanned purchasing actions result to be triggered by product characteristics and younger consumer’s age. Our results corroborated previous findings concerning personality traits, product involvement, physiological arousal, and subsequent post-purchase guilt. We further underscored that impulse buying may not be characterised by heightened physiological attraction along the purchasing process nor that is triggered by peculiar information search patterns. Lastly, our findings highlighted the existence of a contradiction between self-perception of individual impulsivity and actual impulse buying behaviour

Supply chain – marketing integration: How do European SMEs go to China via the New Silk Road

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