What are the main drivers for consumers to participate in virtual new product design contests?

Abstract

Nowadays, for many firms the new product development process is based, to a large extent, on the customer engagement. For this purpose, a very common method are virtual new product design contests. In this aspect, one major issue that these companies are facing is the limited number of participants. Füller (2011) has identified a) autonomy b) competence and c) task enjoyment as potential incentives. Besides these motives, in the current study two further potential drivers are introduced. In particular, the firm’s involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and the form of invitation may also trigger consumers to make their contribution in these kinds of events. Furthermore, the combination of these 2 drivers might have a greater and positive effect in certain circumstances. Therefore, four different scenarios are introduced, described and analyzed. The results revealed, that most of the participants in this survey, are highly sensitive towards social and environmental issues. Surprisingly, they did not favor for a contest of a company, which is highly engaged in CSR activities. Also the form of invitation, did not persuade the respondents to take part in virtual innovation contests.