No innovation for the elderly? The influence of cognitive distance in corporate innovation
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In: Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 28, No. 3, 09.2019, p. 355-367.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - No innovation for the elderly? The influence of cognitive distance in corporate innovation
AU - Marwede, Malte
AU - Herstatt, Cornelius
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - Knowledge of customer needs are crucial for successful corporate innovations. Demographic ageing leads to a higher share of older adults (65+ generation). Consumer-facing companies are urged to target this special or distant target group, which is mostly underrepresented in innovation teams. Various scientific domains have adopted the concept of psychological or cognitive distance, which is theoretically grounded in Construal Level Theory (CLT). Applied to an innovation context, CLT suggests that it is difficult to form detailed user representations of distant target groups and thus to acquire critical need knowledge. User involvement encompasses approaches designed to increase customer centricity and therefore helps with obtaining a better understanding of customer needs. This paper attempts to (i) explore experimentally the cognitive distance between individual developers and the target group and its role in successful ideation, and (ii) test how cognitive distance effects are moderated by the application of user-involvement measures. The results show that cognitive distance, in particular social distance, has adverse effects; user-involvement activities affect ideation quality positively when developers are socially close to the target group. Our findings reveal conditions for the applicability of CLT in innovation management. Implications for management practice include team composition and the application of user involvement when targeting distant target groups.
AB - Knowledge of customer needs are crucial for successful corporate innovations. Demographic ageing leads to a higher share of older adults (65+ generation). Consumer-facing companies are urged to target this special or distant target group, which is mostly underrepresented in innovation teams. Various scientific domains have adopted the concept of psychological or cognitive distance, which is theoretically grounded in Construal Level Theory (CLT). Applied to an innovation context, CLT suggests that it is difficult to form detailed user representations of distant target groups and thus to acquire critical need knowledge. User involvement encompasses approaches designed to increase customer centricity and therefore helps with obtaining a better understanding of customer needs. This paper attempts to (i) explore experimentally the cognitive distance between individual developers and the target group and its role in successful ideation, and (ii) test how cognitive distance effects are moderated by the application of user-involvement measures. The results show that cognitive distance, in particular social distance, has adverse effects; user-involvement activities affect ideation quality positively when developers are socially close to the target group. Our findings reveal conditions for the applicability of CLT in innovation management. Implications for management practice include team composition and the application of user involvement when targeting distant target groups.
KW - Management studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067399184&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/caim.12318
DO - 10.1111/caim.12318
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85067399184
VL - 28
SP - 355
EP - 367
JO - Creativity and Innovation Management
JF - Creativity and Innovation Management
SN - 0963-1690
IS - 3
ER -