Transcript Folie 1

To be unique or not to be unique?
How product characteristics affect choice behavior in
mass customization
Markus A. Hagenmaier, Michael A. Zaggl and Christina Raasch
12th Annual Open and User Innovation Conference
July 28-30, 2014
Harvard Business School, Boston
Feet like no one else. Personalize your ZX 700
and stand out from the crowd.1
Discover our individual city car. Get in and
enjoy the feeling of being unique.2
1. Source: http://www.adidas.de
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2. Source: http://www.opel.de
Choice behavior in mass customization
Markus Hagenmaier / Michael Zaggl / Christina Raasch
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Central question: When do customers want to be unique in
their choices and when do they prefer to conform with others?
Our main hypothesis and theoretical
foundations
Example from car configuration
Customers' preferences for uniqueness
depend on personal needs and the
characteristics of the product attributes.
• Need for uniqueness (Snyder 1980, Tian et
al. 2001), especially in MC (Schreier 2006,
Franke 2008, Merle et al. 2010)
• Concept of regulatory focus (Higgins 1997):
People pursue promotion (excitement) and
prevention goals (security)
• These goals are linked to hedonic and
utilitarian product attributes (Chernev 2004,
Chitturi 2008)
• We propose that people pursue uniqueness
in hedonic attributes (promotion-oriented)
and prefer to conform with others in
utilitarian attributes (prevention-oriented)
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Engine
...
Color
Utilitarian
Hedonic
Customers
prefer
conformity
Customers
prefer
uniqueness
Choice behavior in mass customization
Markus Hagenmaier / Michael Zaggl / Christina Raasch
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We use experiments to investigate the choice behavior of
users of mass customization toolkits
Method:
Online and lab experiments...
... using toolkits that visualize participants'
configuration
135 participants in lab
Participants configured a car
Choices covered two attribute types:
Utilitarian
attributes
• Engine
• Extras
• Services
Hedonic
attributes
• Exterior color
• Seat design
• Wheels design
Treatment group got information on the
popularity of options by ranking them from:
• 1 – MOST frequently chosen by others to
• 6 or 8 – LEAST frequently chosen by
others
We tested for differences in choice behavior
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Choice behavior in mass customization
Markus Hagenmaier / Michael Zaggl / Christina Raasch
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Results support our hypothesis: users prefer conformity in
utilitarian and uniqueness in hedonic product dimensions
Utilitarian attributes (example: Engine)
Hedonic attributes (example: Exterior color)
Difference in choices between control and treatment group 1
Difference in choices between control and treatment group 1
Utilitarian value2: 5.70 (max.: 7)
Chi-Square: 23.283***
Hedonic value2: 5.11 (max.: 7)
Chi-Square: 35.370***
+8
+6
+9
+3
+2
+4
+5
0
-1
-3
-17
-2
-1
-11
conforming ----------------------------------------- unique
conforming ------------------------------------------ unique
 Tendency towards conformity
 Tendency towards uniqueness
Implications:
• Customers' preferences in product customization are influenced by the choices of others
• Customers pursue uniqueness AND conformity, even in customization procedures
• Attribute type is an additional reason for this differing choice behavior
1. Absolute numbers, no. of participants in control group: 67, no. of participants in treatment group: 68
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2. Average value, Likert Scale from 1 to 7; n = 68 (treatment group)
Choice behavior in mass customization
Markus Hagenmaier / Michael Zaggl / Christina Raasch
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