KOREASCHOLAR

Design innovation is acquiring greater importance as consumers’ emotional needs grow ever greater and the cycle of technological innovation grows ever faster. Apple in particular led and strengthened this trend, achieving incomparable business success in the technology-driven electronics industry. However, although the importance of design innovation has increased, very little research has been done to explain the influence of design innovation on business success. This study aims to investigate the influence of design innovation attributes on perceptions, attitudes, and purchase intentions among designers and consumers. 408 designers and 464 consumers participated in an online survey that presented as stimuli four different smart watches. Design innovation attributes were evaluated based on the criteria of features, aesthetics, and ergonomics; consumer-perceived values were categorized as emotional, social, and functional. Regarding consumers attitudes, attitude toward product and attitude toward brand were measured separately. Overall results indicate that purchase intention among designers and consumers alike is influenced by their attitude toward product as well as brand. However, in the case of designers, these attitudes are most influenced by emotional value, while consumers are influenced by emotional as well as social values. Moreover, all three innovation attributes - namely, features, aesthetics, and ergonomics - affect designers’ perception of emotional value, but only aesthetics and ergonomics affect consumers’ emotional and social value. The study demonstrates three significant differences in the responses of designers and consumers. First, there is correlation of aesthetics and ergonomics to functional (price) value among designers, but not consumers. Second, there is correlation of functional (quality) value to attitudes toward product and brand for consumers, but much less or none at all for designers. Third, the influence of features on perception of emotional value is more pronounced among designers as compared to consumers. In conclusion, aesthetics and ergonomics are important design innovation attributes for consumers as well as designers, but the latter also attach significance to features. While perception of emotional as well as social value is important to consumers, designers consider only emotional value. It is anticipated that the relative importance of design innovation attributes will vary according to product categories and price ranges; therefore, further comparative studies will be meaningful in investigation of design innovation.

• Jaehee Chung(Yonsei University, Republic of Korea)
• EunjuKo(Yonsei University, Republic of Korea)
• Jinghe Han(Yonsei University, Republic of Korea)