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Product Learning Process
If consumers expect or actually experience difficulties in using a product, they often delay purchases or return purchased products. Why is this? Research by Dr. Stacy L. Wood, associate professor of marketing, indicates that one reason lies in the new product learning process.
In an article to be published in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Marketing ("From Fear to Loathing? How Emotion Influences the Evaluation and Early Use of Innovations"), Wood and coauthor C. Page Moreau of the University of Colorado-Boulder write that the emotions that arise from the learning process (both positive and negative) are not related to the product's benefits (or lack thereof) but are "independent assessments of the process of learning. In other words, because learning to use a new product can evoke an emotional response, difficulty in learning to use a product "can create a negative emotion even if the product is good, i.e., has strong net benefits."
It's especially important to understand this, say the authors, "especially in [today's] quickly evolving and high-tech product industries, [where] product returns are costly both in terms of retails logistics (e.g., lost sales, restocking costs, repackaging ad selling used products) and lost opportunities."
Wood and Moreau hope their research can help managers better avoid such situations, because "a consumer who has successfully made it through the early steps of the innovation adoption process-awareness, evaluation, and purchase-and then rejects the innovation post-trial may be unlikely to consider other alternative choices or related innovations in the future or may be a source of negative word-of-mouth."
Wood and Moreau's research consisted of two empirical studies. The first was a laboratory study examining participants' reactions as they learned how to use an innovative new Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The second was a longitudinal quasi-experiment examining participants' reactions to a new Web-base course management interface over a semester's time.
A More Efficient DMV
For anyone who has ever stood in line-seemingly forever-to get their driver's license renewed or to pick up a car license tag, a project headed up by Dr. Robert E.
Markland and
Dr. Kirk R. Karwan should be of great interest. Markland,
associate dean for administration and professor of management science, and Karwan, formerly of the
Moore School's Management Science department and now chairman of the Department of Business and
Accounting at Furman University, served on a task force appointed by the governor in 2003 to
evaluate the status of South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) operations. The aim of
the initiative? To make the DMV more efficient and more responsive to customer needs. Using
information technology applied with service operation concepts, the task force recommended steps
that included: providing greeters and improved signage at all facilities; removing telephones from
counters in field offices where customer service representatives deal with the public; allowing
customers to complete some transactions via the Internet; opening high-volume DMV offices on
Saturdays in strategic locations; and outsourcing the DMV call center to the Department of
Corrections. The results were striking: lines grew shorter quickly, more citizens are now
completing their transactions via the Web, and the number of customer complaints has decreased by
more than 50 percent. An article detailing the project has been accepted for publication in the
Journal of Operations Management.
Staffing Practices Contribute to Value
Implementing well-developed staffing practices contributes to an organization's value, according to new research by Dr. Robert E. Ployhart, associate professor
of management. "One study
showed how (seemingly) small improvements in hiring and retaining front-line retail associates
accumulated over time to produce sizable differences in business unit effectiveness," Ployhart
said. "A second study showed how carefully developed staffing procedures improved the recruiting
effectiveness and hiring accuracy of higher level executives, and thus contributed to better fit
with the organization's values."
If consumers expect or actually experience difficulties in using a product, they often delay purchases or return purchased products. Why is this? Research by Dr. Stacy L. Wood, associate professor of marketing, indicates that one reason lies in the new product learning process.
In an article to be published in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Marketing ("From Fear to Loathing? How Emotion Influences the Evaluation and Early Use of Innovations"), Wood and coauthor C. Page Moreau of the University of Colorado-Boulder write that the emotions that arise from the learning process (both positive and negative) are not related to the product's benefits (or lack thereof) but are "independent assessments of the process of learning. In other words, because learning to use a new product can evoke an emotional response, difficulty in learning to use a product "can create a negative emotion even if the product is good, i.e., has strong net benefits."
It's especially important to understand this, say the authors, "especially in [today's] quickly evolving and high-tech product industries, [where] product returns are costly both in terms of retails logistics (e.g., lost sales, restocking costs, repackaging ad selling used products) and lost opportunities."
Wood and Moreau hope their research can help managers better avoid such situations, because "a consumer who has successfully made it through the early steps of the innovation adoption process-awareness, evaluation, and purchase-and then rejects the innovation post-trial may be unlikely to consider other alternative choices or related innovations in the future or may be a source of negative word-of-mouth."
Wood and Moreau's research consisted of two empirical studies. The first was a laboratory study examining participants' reactions as they learned how to use an innovative new Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The second was a longitudinal quasi-experiment examining participants' reactions to a new Web-base course management interface over a semester's time.
A More Efficient DMV
For anyone who has ever stood in line-seemingly forever-to get their driver's license renewed or to pick up a car license tag, a project headed up by Dr. Robert E.
Markland and
Dr. Kirk R. Karwan should be of great interest. Markland,
associate dean for administration and professor of management science, and Karwan, formerly of the
Moore School's Management Science department and now chairman of the Department of Business and
Accounting at Furman University, served on a task force appointed by the governor in 2003 to
evaluate the status of South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) operations. The aim of
the initiative? To make the DMV more efficient and more responsive to customer needs. Using
information technology applied with service operation concepts, the task force recommended steps
that included: providing greeters and improved signage at all facilities; removing telephones from
counters in field offices where customer service representatives deal with the public; allowing
customers to complete some transactions via the Internet; opening high-volume DMV offices on
Saturdays in strategic locations; and outsourcing the DMV call center to the Department of
Corrections. The results were striking: lines grew shorter quickly, more citizens are now
completing their transactions via the Web, and the number of customer complaints has decreased by
more than 50 percent. An article detailing the project has been accepted for publication in the
Journal of Operations Management.
Staffing Practices Contribute to Value
Implementing well-developed staffing practices contributes to an organization's value, according to new research by Dr. Robert E. Ployhart, associate professor
of management. "One study
showed how (seemingly) small improvements in hiring and retaining front-line retail associates
accumulated over time to produce sizable differences in business unit effectiveness," Ployhart
said. "A second study showed how carefully developed staffing procedures improved the recruiting
effectiveness and hiring accuracy of higher level executives, and thus contributed to better fit
with the organization's values."