Priming significance in user innovation : A case study of the idea generation stage in a product development process

Abstract: Problem: One of the factors that cause new products to fail in a competitive market is the lack of user involvement in the innovative stages of product development. By investigating the benefits of involving users and analysing their ability to generate creative ideas, companies can design products that improve the user-value and the overall perception of the company. This paper examines the variances of users’ idea generation and their ability to come up with producible and user-valuable ideas. Method: A quantitative survey with a mixed-methods analysis was conducted in order to collect primary data. The experiment was carried out in the setting of Karlstad Airport with 193 respondents. The respondents were divided between groups of frequent users, non-frequent users and non-users in order to see their variances of idea generation and the impact of a priming stimulus on each of the user groups. Theory: The theoretical framework used in this thesis mainly consists of theory explaining the concept of priming and Peter Magnusson’s doctoral dissertation focusing on involving users in service innovation. The thesis also takes on the Service-Dominant perspective to better explain the background for user innovation procedures. Conclusion: This study concludes that user involvement in the idea generation process is of a high value for the company due to the broader perspective on the users’ actual needs. Priming can have a strong positive or negative effect on the creative idea generation depending on whether the users are identified according to their product related knowledge.