Stoyan Tanev, tan@iti.sdu.dk Institute of Technology and InnovationUniversity of Southern DenmarkOdense

Dimensions of customer value Relationship between customer value and

creativity Some key aspects of activity theory Method Discussion

Value built-in the product◦ Built-in value is the view of the

developer/designer and is reflected in the price Value perceived by customers

◦ Perceived value is reflected in customers’ willingness to pay

Built-in value is usually higher than perceived value

This is especially true for technological products such as consumer electronics

t = 0First encounter with new product

ValueV = $

Built-in value - “objectively existing”

Appreciated value

t = tF

Finally appreciated value

ΔV

t = tP

Purchase

ΔVP

ΔVF

V = V0

V = VF

ΔV is the result of customer efforts ◦ Value creation by customers customer creativity

ΔV is function of time: ΔV = ΔV(t) ΔVP is what makes a customer buy, OR ΔVP is what makes an interested person a

customer:◦ Customer co-creation customer self-creation ◦ Critical importance for technological product adoption

Finally perceived value has three components: VF = V0 + ΔVP + ΔVF

Initial value appreciation

Purchase value

appreciation

After purchase

value appreciation

ΔV emerges within the context of customer activities

These activities are dialogical in nature Dialogue with

◦ friends and relatives ◦ store representatives◦ other customers◦ WWW◦ the product itself

actor-network theory◦ emphasis on the power of technologies, their

ability to “push-back” in activity distributed cognition

◦ importance of tools in cognition◦ cognition as distributed across people & tools

activity theory phenomenology

◦ focus on everyday experience as part of a “being thrown in the world” perspective

Approach in psychology and other social sciences that aims to understand individual human beings, as well as the social entities they compose, in their natural everyday life circumstances, through an analysis of the genesis, structure, and processes of their activities.

A framework for thinking about human activity as it is expressed in the use of technology by focusing on◦ human intentionality◦ asymmetry in the interaction between people and things◦ importance of human development (change)◦ the idea of culture and society as shaping human activity◦ creativity, reflexivity, and resistance as a source of change

Kaptelinin, V. & Nardi, B. Acting with technology – Activity theory and interaction design, MIT Press, 2006

The concept of activity is most fundamental◦ purposeful interaction of the subject with the world◦ a process in which mutual transformations between the

poles of “subject–object” are accomplished (Leontiev, 1978)

Primacy of activity over the subject & object◦ analysis of activities enable understanding both subjects

and objects◦ no properties of the subject and the object exist before and

beyond activities◦ properties do not just manifest themselves in various

circumstances; they truly exist only in activities, when being enacted

◦ analogies with complementarity in quantum mechanics

Activity is considered the key source of development of both the object & subject

Activities may cause substantial changes in the subject’s properties

Traditional approaches consider first the subject and the object, and then focus on interaction

AT: using activity as the basic unit of analysis provides a way to understand both subjects & objects

Creativity refers to an imaginative activity directed towards an object in which an original product emerges

Creativity manifests itself in personal insights It is related to internal (personal) restructuring of the whole

representation of a problem Individual vs group creativity

◦ Zone of proximal development - difference between what one can do alone and what one can do in dialogue with others

The concept of mediation, combined with understanding creativity helps to conceptualize creativity in groups

Conversations with others help individual group members to frame problems in new ways and then contribute those new insights to the group

Creativity is by definition dialogical creativity

Breakdowns, conflicts, and contradictions Different levels of collaboration

◦ coordination people work toward a common goal, but carry out

individual activities basically independently◦ cooperation

Relating individual goals to the objective of a collective activity and adjusting your actions to the actions of others

◦ co-construction collectively redefine the object and the collective

activity itself – the object may then be constructed anew, that is, co-constructed.

Using the activity theory framework to study customer creativity as a source of new service development

Objective◦ Monitor customer activities to demonstrate the value

appreciation process

Analyze customer activities to examine dialogical nature of value appreciation

Use customer struggle points to identify new services that could help the appreciation of value

Focus on both◦ Pre-purchase customer experience ◦ Post-purchase user experience

Rapid ethnography technique + interview sessions at retail store exit with an arrangement of a second future interview in a week or so.

Narrows down the focus of the field research appropriately before entering the field.

Zooms in on the important activities. Uses key informants such as sales assistants. Use multiple interactive observation techniques

to increase the likelihood of discovering exceptional and useful customer behavior.

Use collaborative and computerized iterative data analysis methods.