Managerial perspectives on virtual customer integration

  • Web-based interaction between customers and producers offer new promising ways of bringing customers into the company right to where the value creation begins - in new product development (NPD). Despite the high potential of virtual customer integration (VCI), practical application is limited. The decision of initial utilization of VCI depends on the manager’s predisposition - favorable or unfavorable -towards VCI; usually, it is the responsibility of managers and executives belonging to the development, marketing or innovation departments to sanction such a decision. To get a deeper understanding of antecedents leading to the application of VCI, further information is needed. In this paper, the authors shed light on the various factors affecting managerial intention to apply virtual customer integration. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) provides a basis for developing a research model explaining the relation between managers’ cognition, attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control and their intention to adopt VCI. The initial results of our empirical study, wherein we interviewed 94 managers within the consumer goods and services field, show that the TPB accounts for 66 percent of the variance in the managers’ intention to apply VCI. Furthermore, the study reveals that social norms and perceived behavioral control are the main factors which influence managerial decision to apply VCI. This contrasts with the widely-held theory that an individual's attitude is the most significant factor of influence.

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Metadaten
Author:Michael Bartl, Johann Füller, Holger Ernst, Hans Mühlbacher
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:992-opus4-6127
Subtitle (English):cognition, attitude, and intention
Series (Serial Number):WHU-Forschungspapier (093)
Publisher:Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung (WHU) Otto-Beisheim-Hochschule
Place of publication:Vallendar
Document Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2018/04/01
Year of first Publication:2003
Release Date:2018/04/01
Tag:Kundenorientierung; Neues Produkt; Produktentwicklung
Customer orientation; New product; Product development
Page Number:23
Institutes:WHU Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group / Chair of Technology and Innovation Management
Licence (German):Copyright for this publication