How customer knowledge affects exploration: Generating, guiding, and gatekeeping

Sihvonen, Antti; Luoma, Jukka; Falk, Tomas

doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.02.005

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…This helped us to elaborate what intuition, analysis, and sensemaking mean in practice. Using grounded theory in this way was a natural methodological choice for us since we had already used the method in parallel research projects (see Sihvonen et al, 2021) and knew how its use would help us to fulfill the aims of our study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Grounded Theory Coding and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Understand Decision-Making Complexity

Sukhov¹,

Sihvonen²

2023

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This case study is based on a research project that analyzed how expert evaluators combine different modes of thinking when screening ideas for innovation. The findings of this research project are detailed in the journal article, "How experts screen ideas: the complex interplay of intuition, analysis and sensemaking" by Sukhov et al. What makes the research project interesting is that it combined three concepts that have been used to study idea screening (intuition, analysis, and sensemaking) and analyzed what these concepts look like in practice and how they are combined to find high-quality ideas. This case study focuses on the methodological choices that enabled implementing this research project. At the heart of the research project was a mixed-methods research design that combined grounded theory coding with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (also referred to as fsQCA) to elaborate different idea screening activities and show how they are used to make decisions on idea quality. Reading this case study helps to understand how to combine these analytical techniques and develop research designs that elaborate different dimensions of data and show how these different dimensions are used together. These ideas can be applied in three primary ways. First, this research design provides a systematic way to analyze datasets that consist of rich qualitative data and multiple cases. Second, it enables studying how alternative (or even competing) theories work together to explain empirical phenomena. Third, this study outlines one way to use fsQCA on qualitative data.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining Grounded Theory Coding and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Understand Decision-Making Complexity

Sukhov¹,

Sihvonen²

2023

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“…We labeled these reasons as alignment mechanisms since they bring together heterogeneous actors to execute joint projects. In doing so, they follow the mechanism logic by explaining how individual actors’ activities function together at a more abstract level (Sihvonen et al. , 2021).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing the complexity of green innovation

Abadzhiev

Sukhov

Sihvonen

et al. 2022

EJIM

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PurposeGreen innovation can promote both environmental sustainability and economic growth. However, its development and implementation can be complex due to the need to align innovation activities within and across companies. In this study, the authors examined how this complexity can be managed by analyzing how individual companies combine different innovation activities to develop green innovation, and how companies along the value chain align to implement these innovations.Design/methodology/approachThe dataset comprises both interviews and a survey of senior executives from the Swedish wood construction industry. These data were first analyzed by using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify innovation activity configurations at the level of the individual company. The interviews were then analyzed to identify alignment mechanisms enabling the implementation of green innovation along the value chain.FindingsAt the company level, the authors found three innovation activity configurations with varying levels of complexity: (1) systemic innovation by proactive companies, (2) process innovation by reactive companies and (3) inaction by technology-independent companies. On the value chain level, the authors found three alignment mechanisms that facilitate the implementation of green innovation along the value chain. These mechanisms promote cooperation by increasing efficiency, opening up new market opportunities and increasing the level of servitization.Originality/valueThis paper analyzes the complexity of green innovation and provides novel insights into how complexity is managed at the level of both the individual company and the value chain.

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“…Although R&D focuses more on internal knowledge and resources and the technical aspects of the NPD process, successful new product entry and growth often require extensive feedback from consumers and industrial buyers acquired in the test marketing stage (Cooper, 1979; Johne and Snelson, 1988; Huang et al , 2013). Particularly, customer knowledge can increase the tendency for companies to conduct exploratory NPD and guide the NPD process to meet customer needs, thus increasing the significance of new products when they are commercialized (Qin et al , 2021; Sihvonen et al , 2021). In addition, customer knowledge also significantly reduces business risks in exploratory NPD (Tang and Marinova, 2020; Wei et al , 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedents of knowledge-seeking intentions and efforts within new product development teams: empirical evidence from knowledge-based Chinese companies

Zhang

Zhou

Pan

2022

JKM

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Purpose This study aims to examine the antecedents of knowledge-seeking intentions (SIs) and efforts within new product development (NPD) teams. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 331 employees affiliated with 29 NPD teams across 18 Chinese firms in five high-tech and knowledge-based industries via an online assessment and a survey. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to test the hypotheses using HLM and Mplus software. Findings The results of this study show that intrinsic task motivation (IM) and personal task experience (TE) positively relate to SIs, whereas leadership support (LS) and shared culture (SC) negatively relate to knowledge-seeking efforts (SEs). SIs partially mediate the relationship between IM and SEs, while they fully mediate the relationship between TE and SEs. Additionally, customer orientation (CO) positively moderates the relationship between SIs and SEs. Research limitations/implications Data collection was completed online by relying on an existing version of the Abedi Creativity Test. The samples involve 18 companies in a High-Tech Development Zone in China, which indicates limited generalizability. Practical implications Effective NPD depends on successful marketing–R&D integration and knowledge exchange within the NPD team. Besides, organizations need to find ways to stimulate NPD team members’ IM and also through various ways to inspire more efforts from team members under the condition of supportive leadership and culture. Originality/value This study contributes to the knowledge management and marketing literature on NPD teamwork by examining knowledge-seeking phenomena from the perspective of the internal knowledge market and contributes to knowledge-seeking research by revealing the antecedents of SIs and SEs at both the individual and organizational level.

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How customer knowledge affects exploration: Generating, guiding, and gatekeeping

Cited by 5 publications

References 92 publications

Combining Grounded Theory Coding and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Understand Decision-Making Complexity

Combining Grounded Theory Coding and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Understand Decision-Making Complexity

Managing the complexity of green innovation

Antecedents of knowledge-seeking intentions and efforts within new product development teams: empirical evidence from knowledge-based Chinese companies

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