Research On The Influence Of Customer Empowerment On Customer Participation In New Product Development

With the coming of consumer-dominate era,customer has no longer passively accept new product.In contrast,customers ask company to provide product according to their unique needs.The phenomenon of customer participating in new product development(NPD)is increasingly common.At the same time,company empower their customers with the choice of new product idea and the decision of new product launch,which is benefit for improving effect and efficiency of NPD.In recent years,scholars pay more attention to the research of customer participation in NPD.But research from the perspective of individual customer is limited,and the antecedents and mechanism of customer participation need further research.This study reviews the literature of new product development,customer empowerment,psychological ownership,consumers'need for uniqueness and self-determination theory,and establishes the theoretical model of relationship between customer empowerment and customer participation.Then,the study collects research data with the method of experimental research and questionnaire.The data is analyzed with the help of SPSS 19.0,and the research hypothesis is tested.At last,the study get following conclusions:(1)customer empowerment has positive influence on customer participation,the enhancement of perceived autonomy,perceived control and self-efficiency of customer will make them put in more effort during the development of new product.(2)Customer's psychological ownership plays an intermediary role in the relationship between customer empowerment and customer participation.(3)Consumers' need for uniqueness moderates the effect of customer empowerment on customer participation.The influence of customer empowerment on customers' participation varies with the degree of the customers' need for uniqueness.This study provide some advice for managing customer's participation in the development of new product,and help marketers understand the psychological mechanism of customer participation in the development of new product,and then meet customers'psychological needs to improve the degree of customer's participation in the development of new product.Meanwhile,this study can help the enterprise meet consumers' need for uniqueness,and enhance customers' participation in the development of new product.