Customer Involvement and Sustainable Product Innovations: The Role of Design Excellence and Technological Capability

Abstract

The main goal of this research is to examine how customer involvement influences
firm ability to shape sustainable product innovation. The study measures the
effect of design excellence and firm technological capabilities on the development
of sustainable innovations with respect to customer involvement. Drawing the
theory of absorptive capacity in the context of innovation, we posit that high firm
absorptive capacity focuses largely on product-focused customer involvement
(PCI) and information-intensive customer involvement (ICI) practices, which
result in a large number of sustainable innovations. To test our hypotheses, we
collected data from 105 manufacturing/Services industries. A convenient,
purposive sampling technique was used for data collection. In order to examine
the relationship between PCI, ICI, Design Excellence, and Technological
capabilities, hypotheses were tested by using correlation and regression analysis.
According to the study findings, results indicate that customer involvement
positively affects sustainable product innovativeness and that such effects are
mediated by product design. In a further exploratory analysis, the study finds a
positive moderated role by one firm resource i.e. firm technological capability.
The primary limitation of the empirical review is the tiny size of the sample.
Second, this study focused on firm technological capabilities as a whole,
particular technology for a particular product may be considered for further
studies. The current study is unique in its kind, focusing on the link between PCI,
ICI, Design Excellence and Technological capabilities, within the specific context
of Pakistan. Moreover this study contributes to theory and practice by providing
understanding of sustainable innovation in the service and manufacturing
industries with the help of customer involvement.