Crowdsourcing of New Consumer Product Ideas in the Cultural Context

Abstract

The spread of Web 2.0 has had a significant effect on several of the models of business with changed or a new business model methodically integrating the customers in new product development. While there is recent recognition that the online crowdsourcing competitions are robust instruments to integrate users in new product development, there is an increasingly important need to understand the reasons that prevent users from taking part in crowdsourcing product design in terms of its aesthetic features. One important reason is that the users demand that certain needs are met by local solutions. This is particularly highlighted by examining the cultural differences among the crowdsourcing ideas generated by users (UGC) towards new product development between local users (Saudi) and international users (Non-Saudi) in Saudi Arabia. Where most of the previous study confirm that the different product design characteristics, such as colour, shape, taste and size can be explained across cultures differently. This research used a cross-sectional design, consisting of three goals that all involve the use of an experimental questionnaire. The participants were recruited from international schools and universities’ databases in Saudi Arabia via open call (mail survey). The experimental questionnaires were collected and analysed to compare, investigate and interpret the ideas of users in two steps. The first step investigated whether differences in product aesthetics * 4* characteristics could influence product-related beliefs in the crowdsourcing ideas of control and experimental groups. The sample consisted of 221participants (Control users n=121, Treatment users n=100). The second step had two purposes; to examine the crowdsourcing ideas of international users’ UGC compared with crowdsourcing ideas of local users’ UGC towards product design. And the next purpose to interpret the differences between the international users' ideas and local users' ideas in the light of culture. This involved 221participants (Local users n=125, International users n=96). The findings show that the essential differences between the local and international users (UGC) in looking at the world of product aesthetics confirm that the cultural background influences the users' ideas about the product design. The local users were also open to and flexible in sharing their ideas and opinions when developing the product through online crowdsourcing platforms. The findings of this research broadly propose that Saudi Arabia is the most conservative culture in the world. However, such discrepancies in the current study could be explained by perceiving the online crowdsourcing as a platform that transcends several social and cultural limitations, and the international users seem to be more conservative considering that such involvement incurs risks and uncertainty. The results of this research constitute a significant contribution to the body of knowledge relating to crowdsourcing ideas of UGC and product design. It provides a more comprehensive understanding of how new product development takes place in multicultural countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, this research could offers a strong contribution to the body of knowledge as, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to investigate and compare UCG in the context of multi-cultures in one region. However, this research has limitations along with suggestions for future work. Such as the research data were collected only through an experimental survey. Thus, future work can use other strategies like interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the users’ ideas and perspectives about how they shaped their ideas towards product design development. The research data also were covered the past experiences of the users and has only interpreted if the past experiences could influenced