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To complement their in-house, designer-driven efforts, companies are increasingly experimenting with crowdsourcing initiatives in which they invite their user communities to generate new product ideas. Although innovation scholars have begun to analyze the objective promise of crowdsourcing, the current research is unique in pointing out that merely marketing the source of design to customers might bring about an incremental increase in product sales. The findings from two randomized field experiments reveal that labeling crowdsourced new products as such—that is, marketing the product as “customer-ideated” at the point of purchase versus not mentioning the specific source of design—increased the product's actual market performance by up to 20%. Two controlled follow-up studies reveal that the effect observed in two distinct consumer goods domains (food and electronics) can be attributed to a quality inference: consumers perceive “customer-ideated” products to be based on ideas that address their needs more effectively, and the corresponding design mode is considered superior in generating promising new products.

Scholars have long discussed the locus of innovation and its determinants. There is empirical evidence that innovations can be developed by those holding any of a number of "functional" relationships to them such as manufacturer, user, or materials supplier. Past studies have considered two factors important in predicting the functional locus of innovation. One is "expected profit of a player involved in the innovation" and the other is "stickiness of innovation-related information."Although some studies have shown empirically the link between an innovator's expected profits and the locus of innovation, no research has yet been conducted to test the hypothesized relationship between stickiness of innovation-related information and locus of innovation. In the study reported upon here, I explore relationships between these two variables via a study of 24 innovations for the Japanese convenience-store industry. My study shows empirically that stickiness of innovation-related information does have the hypothesized relationship to the functional locus of innovation. I discuss implications of these findings, and some directions for future research.

BackgroundDeterioration of hand motor function is a possible risk factor of cognitive impairment in older adults. Despite a growing body of research, a lack of clarity exists regarding the relationships. This review offers a synthesis of existing observational studies evaluating the associations of handgrip strength and hand dexterity with cognitive performance in community-dwelling older adults.MethodsPubMed, PsycINFO, and ScienceDirect were systematically searched (search dates: 1990–2016), and relevant articles were cross-checked for related and relevant publications.ResultsTwenty-two observational studies assessed the association of handgrip strength or hand dexterity with cognitive performance; none evaluated handgrip strength and hand dexterity together. Handgrip strength was associated with global cognition, mostly assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Also, one cross-sectional and three longitudinal studies found an association with cognitive domains, such as language, memory, visuospatial ability, working memory, and processing speed. Hand dexterity was only assessed cross-sectionally in four studies. These studies found an association with cognitive domains, such as executive function.ConclusionsAlthough handgrip strength was associated with cognitive performance, it is unclear which variable at baseline affects the other in the long-term. Cross-sectional studies indicate an association between hand dexterity and cognitive performance, yet longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate this association. The interaction effects of both decreased grip strength and hand dexterity on cognitive performance is still unclear; therefore, future studies will need to consider the interaction of the three variables cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

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