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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on online sales configurators (SCs), also known as mass-customization toolkits, which enable consumers to self-customize their product solutions online. The paper aims to provide new insights into which characteristics of an online SC increase the consumer-perceived benefits of possessing a mass-customized product. Design/methodology/approach Previous studies on mass customization (MC), sales configuration, and learning psychology are used to develop the research hypotheses, which are tested by analyzing data from 675 configuration experiences from a convenience sample of potential consumers using 31 real online SCs for laptops/notebooks, economy cars, and sport shoes/sneakers. Findings The paper finds support for the hypotheses that SCs with higher flexible-navigation, focused-navigation, and easy-comparison capabilities enhance not only the traditionally considered utilitarian benefit (UT), but also the consumer-perceived uniqueness benefit (UN) and self-expressiveness (SE) benefit (SE). Furthermore, consistent with the study’s hypotheses, SCs with higher benefit-cost communication and user-friendly product-space description capabilities are found to improve UT. The hypotheses that these two capabilities enhance UN and SE, however, are not supported. Post-hoc analyses suggest that the examined SCs are generally UT-centered and need improvement of their ability to communicate the UN and the SE a consumer could derive from the purchase of his/her configured product. Originality/value While prior research has primarily been concerned with conceptually arguing and empirically showing that uniqueness and self-expressiveness are two additional sources of consumer value in business-to-consumer MC, this is the first empirical study that offers insights into which characteristics online SCs should have in order to draw from these two value sources.

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Mass customization (MC) is gaining steady attention in both industry and academia. Recently, MC implementation guidelines (MC-IGs) have been identified as an emerging sub-stream of MC research.A review of this sub-stream has been published in the current year, with a practitioner-oriented view. The present paper complements that review by focusing on the researchers' need to improve the way MC-IGs are developed and communicated. By providing data generated from a systematic literature review on MC-IGs, the present paper informs researchers about how much and in which way certain aspects of MC-IGs have been considered in the available guidelines. Through a systematic and detailed description of the published MC-IGs, the present article supports researchers to clearly communicate the similarities and differences in their proposed advancements on MC-IGs. Finally, by reflecting on the very nature of the output of MC-IG research, this article suggests open and wide adoption of the design science research strategy to develop and test MC-IGs.

Purpose The development of mass-customization capability (MCC) is crucial for a growing number of manufacturing firms nowadays and presents great challenges, especially in the area of operations management. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into which individual competencies (ICs) of an operations manager (OM) are important to the MCC of the manufacturing organization the OM works for. Design/methodology/approach A multiple-case study was designed, involving eight machinery manufacturers in one European country, to collect data on their MCC and on the ICs of their OMs. Empirical case data were triangulated with analytical conceptual arguments grounded in the existing literature. Findings The study provides empirical evidence of, and logical explanations for, the fact that OMs working in high-MCC manufacturing organizations use the ICs of negotiation, information seeking, efficiency orientation, analytical thinking and pattern recognition significantly more often than OMs employed by low-MCC organizations. Research limitations/implications Future research could replicate this study in other industries and countries, as well as for other managerial roles. Practical implications The study provides indications for OM selection and training in companies that are pursuing a mass-customization strategy. Originality/value While the literature on technological and organization-level enablers of MCC has grown considerably, the understanding of its individual-level enablers is still limited and concerns mostly the workforce. This is the first study that relies not on practitioners’ opinions, but on data regarding manufacturers’ MCC and their managers’ ICs to shed light on which managerial competencies are important to a manufacturer’s MCC.