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Elusive intangibles : Exploring the experience of authenticity in product development

Kristav, Per LU (2019)
Abstract
When consumers buy a new product, they have expectations about what that product will deliver. The consumer’s rational reasoning may try to ascertain whether the technical performance of the product will be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the final word is often subjective. Does it feel right? Is the product attractive, is it worth paying that much for? It is well established that human perception is highly subjective and elusive in nature. Although reason might tell us to go for the “sensible” choice, if the product is not experienced as attractive or exciting enough, the choice might go to something else or lead to dissatisfaction with the chosen product. This is why intangible experiences are important to consider when developing highly valued... (More)
When consumers buy a new product, they have expectations about what that product will deliver. The consumer’s rational reasoning may try to ascertain whether the technical performance of the product will be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the final word is often subjective. Does it feel right? Is the product attractive, is it worth paying that much for? It is well established that human perception is highly subjective and elusive in nature. Although reason might tell us to go for the “sensible” choice, if the product is not experienced as attractive or exciting enough, the choice might go to something else or lead to dissatisfaction with the chosen product. This is why intangible experiences are important to consider when developing highly valued consumer products.
The research in this thesis represents a journey. Along its path, it has been studied how one might understand, elicit and capture intangible product value. How are intangibles relevant to industry, and how might they support product development in the quest for developing products that are highly valued on the market? The initial research, when this thesis began, was concerned with a new way to elicit, capture and assess this type of value. The value of this research lies in the development and validation of a new type of internet tool for the elicitation and assessment of product intangibles that are intended to capture consumer response in a different way from traditional internet tools for product assessment. The latter and greater part of this research has attempted to describe what intangibles are, how professionals talk about them, and what significance they have for product value and product development. What type of value are product developers trying to integrate into the products they develop, and how do they reason? This research has particularly focused on describing and understanding the intangible quality of product and brand authenticity.
One contribution of this thesis is its review of how authenticity is described by literature in the fields of product development, branding and marketing management. Thus, it describes the ongoing debate on authenticity as a leading determinant of market value. However, it remains unclear what saying that a product or a brand is authentic means within product development. This has been analysed in this thesis.
The thesis also gives an account of what qualities different professions within product development and industrial design have found to be important when developing highly valued consumer products.
This thesis also makes a contribution by proposing a new, multidimensional construct for authenticity that explains how market value relates to authenticity. This multidimensional construct of authenticity is a framework that explains how different fields related to product development may be used for companies in creating and maintaining product offerings with a high market value.
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Abstract (Swedish)
När konsumenter köper en produkt så har de förväntningar på vad produkten kommer att kunna leverera. Rationella argument försöker försäkra sig om att produktens tekniska egenskaper kommer att bli till belåtenhet. Men det är ändå ofta känslan som får sista ordet. Känns produkten rätt, tillräckligt attraktiv, eller är den ens värd att betala så mycket för? Det är väl känt att människans perception i hög grad är subjektiv till sin natur. Allt förnuft må försöka få oss att göra det ”vettiga” valet, men om produkten inte upplevs som attraktiv eller ”rätt” så kanske valet faller på något annat eller leder till missnöje med det som valts. Detta är anledningen till varför subjektiva produktupplevelser är viktiga att ta med i beräkning vid... (More)
När konsumenter köper en produkt så har de förväntningar på vad produkten kommer att kunna leverera. Rationella argument försöker försäkra sig om att produktens tekniska egenskaper kommer att bli till belåtenhet. Men det är ändå ofta känslan som får sista ordet. Känns produkten rätt, tillräckligt attraktiv, eller är den ens värd att betala så mycket för? Det är väl känt att människans perception i hög grad är subjektiv till sin natur. Allt förnuft må försöka få oss att göra det ”vettiga” valet, men om produkten inte upplevs som attraktiv eller ”rätt” så kanske valet faller på något annat eller leder till missnöje med det som valts. Detta är anledningen till varför subjektiva produktupplevelser är viktiga att ta med i beräkning vid utveckling av nya konsumentprodukter.
Den första studien i denna avhandling behandlar ett nytt sätt att försöka framkalla, fånga och sedan mäta sådana värden. Värdet av den forskningen och dess bidrag ligger i utvecklingen och valideringen av en ny typ av internetverktyg för att framkalla och mäta produktupplevelser som antas vara mer effektiv än traditionella internetverktyg för denna typ av produktutvärderingar.
De resterande studierna i denna avhandling försöker beskriva dessa ”intangibla” värden, hur yrkesfolk talar om dem, vilken betydelse de har samt hur de implementeras. Vilken typ av värden försöker produktutvecklare integrera i de produkter de utvecklar, och hur gör de? Och hur tänker de sig att deras konsumenter kommer att uppleva dessa kvaliteter?
Forskningen har speciellt intresserat sig för att försöka beskriva och förstå den ”intangibla” kvalitén autenticitet. I litteraturen har denna form av värde beskrivits som ledande och avgörande för att kunna skapa ett högt marknadsvärde. Det har emellertid varit oklart vad det egentligen betyder när någon inom produktutveckling säger att ett varumärke eller en produkt är autentisk. Detta förhållande har analyserats i denna avhandling.
Forskningen bidrar även med att redovisa vilka kvalitéer som olika professioner inom produktutvecklingsprocessen finner viktiga när de utvecklar högt värderade konsumentprodukter. Forskningen behandlar även den pågående debatten kring autenticitetsbegreppet kopplat till marknadsvärde.
Forskningen bidrar även med att föreslå en ny flerdimensionell modell som förklarar hur marknadsvärde hänger ihop med autenticitet. Denna flerdimensionella modell förklarar hur forskningsfält som relaterar till produktutveckling kan bidra till att skapa och bibehålla ett högt marknadsvärde för produkter.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Associate Professor Anker Lenau, Torben, Technical University of Denmark, DTU, Denmark
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Produkt och and varumärkesupplevelse, produkt och varumärkesvärde, produkt och varumärkesautenticitet, produkt och varumärkesbetydelse, abstrakta produktegenskaper., Product experience, Brand experience, Product value, Brand value, Product Authenticity, Brand authenticity, Product meaning, Brand meaning, Product intangibles
pages
102 pages
publisher
Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University
defense location
Lecture Hall Stora Hörsalen, Ingvar Kamprad Designcentrum, IKDC, Sölvegatan 26, Lund University, Faculty of Engineering LTH
defense date
2019-09-18 09:15:00
ISBN
978-91-7895-201-4
978-91-7895-202-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
af36b0f1-6d10-486b-81b6-31a21b0dcf9f
date added to LUP
2019-06-11 14:06:39
date last changed
2022-04-07 13:53:23
@phdthesis{af36b0f1-6d10-486b-81b6-31a21b0dcf9f,
  abstract     = {{When consumers buy a new product, they have expectations about what that product will deliver. The consumer’s rational reasoning may try to ascertain whether the technical performance of the product will be fulfilled. Nevertheless, the final word is often subjective. Does it feel right? Is the product attractive, is it worth paying that much for? It is well established that human perception is highly subjective and elusive in nature. Although reason might tell us to go for the “sensible” choice, if the product is not experienced as attractive or exciting enough, the choice might go to something else or lead to dissatisfaction with the chosen product. This is why intangible experiences are important to consider when developing highly valued consumer products.<br/>The research in this thesis represents a journey. Along its path, it has been studied how one might understand, elicit and capture intangible product value. How are intangibles relevant to industry, and how might they support product development in the quest for developing products that are highly valued on the market? The initial research, when this thesis began, was concerned with a new way to elicit, capture and assess this type of value. The value of this research lies in the development and validation of a new type of internet tool for the elicitation and assessment of product intangibles that are intended to capture consumer response in a different way from traditional internet tools for product assessment. The latter and greater part of this research has attempted to describe what intangibles are, how professionals talk about them, and what significance they have for product value and product development. What type of value are product developers trying to integrate into the products they develop, and how do they reason? This research has particularly focused on describing and understanding the intangible quality of product and brand authenticity. <br/>One contribution of this thesis is its review of how authenticity is described by literature in the fields of product development, branding and marketing management. Thus, it describes the ongoing debate on authenticity as a leading determinant of market value. However, it remains unclear what saying that a product or a brand is authentic means within product development. This has been analysed in this thesis. <br/>The thesis also gives an account of what qualities different professions within product development and industrial design have found to be important when developing highly valued consumer products. <br/>This thesis also makes a contribution by proposing a new, multidimensional construct for authenticity that explains how market value relates to authenticity. This multidimensional construct of authenticity is a framework that explains how different fields related to product development may be used for companies in creating and maintaining product offerings with a high market value. <br/>}},
  author       = {{Kristav, Per}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-7895-201-4}},
  keywords     = {{Produkt och and varumärkesupplevelse, produkt och varumärkesvärde, produkt och varumärkesautenticitet, produkt och varumärkesbetydelse, abstrakta produktegenskaper.; Product experience; Brand experience; Product value; Brand value; Product Authenticity; Brand authenticity; Product meaning; Brand meaning; Product intangibles}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Elusive intangibles : Exploring the experience of authenticity in product development}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/65874078/e_spik_ex_Per_K.pdf}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}