The effect of a design label on product choice in FMCG

Abstract

The concept of User Innovation is not very familiar to consumers, but a growing number of companies are starting to invest on users to assist their R&D process. Thompson and Malaviya’s Skepticism-Identification model explain why companies should encourage but at the same be careful when communicating that a product was designed by users. This experimental study aims to understand the influence of the level of user input in product design on product choice. The design continuum: (1) firm-designed; (2) user-designed and (3) co-creation (the collaboration between the two) is applied to the FMCG industry and tested whether product nature (hedonic and utilitarian) influences consumers’ responses. Firstly, the results indicated that co-creation is the preferred design label, regardless of the product nature. A co-created label enhances perceptions of product quality and for this reason, managers should use this increase in product value to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Secondly, the results indicated that utilitarian products draw the most benefits from a user design label. When looking at communicating the product design mode, companies should first look at the nature of their products.

Date of Award	10 May 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)