David M. Szymanski’s research while affiliated with Texas A&M University and other places

The field of product innovation has expanded rapidly and clear insights regarding the relationship between product innovativeness and new product performance have become more elusive and difficult to discern through qualitative reviews of the literature. To offer much needed clarity, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of 95 correlations on product innovativeness and new product performance that were recorded from 32 studies on the topic. The findings reveal that although the average correlation of 0.24 for innovativeness with performance is small to moderate in size, the relationship is more substantial when various measurement and contextual elements are considered. For example, innovativeness measures that include a meaningfulness dimension yield stronger estimates of relationship strength. The findings also reveal that innovativeness today may not represent the same competitive advantage as in previous years unless the focus is on products rather than services, and specifically, new-to-the-market rather than new-to-the-firm products. Thus, innovativeness can be particularly relevant to new product success but only under certain conditions.

The field of product innovation has expanded rapidly, and insights regarding the relationship between product innovativeness and new product performance have become clouded, as findings are increasingly mixed. To address this issue and add clarity, the authors quantitatively analyze the extant product innovativeness–new product performance findings. They find that while the resulting relationship between innovativeness and performance is small on average, it lacks generalizability because of a number of measurement (e.g. definition of newness and nature of performance data) and contextual factors (e.g. goods versus services) that moderate the magnitude of the product innovativeness effect found. They subsequently discover that the magnitude of the relationship also has diminished over time as competitive conditions have unarguably intensified. The authors explore the implications of these findings and the revised contingency perspective for academic research and business practice. As a research base expands, it becomes critical to take stock of extant findings to ensure that previous conclusions and perspectives remain valid and to further ensure that the proper approach to research is being pursued. This assessment becomes even more critical when an area is relevant to practitioners and is attracting a growing number of researchers. Such is the case with the literature focusing on the role of product innovativeness in the marketplace performance of new product offerings.

The growing number of academic studies on customer satisfaction and the mixed findings they report complicate efforts among managers and academics to identify the antecedents to, and outcomes of, businesses having more-versus less-satisfied customers. These mixed findings and the growing emphasis by managers on having satisfied customers point to the value of empirically synthesizing the evidence on customer satisfaction to assess current knowledge. To this end, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the reported findings on customer satisfaction. They document that equity and disconfirmation are most strongly related to customer satisfaction on average. They also find that measurement and method factors that characterize the research often moderate relationship strength between satisfaction and its antecedents and outcomes. The authors discuss the implications surrounding these effects and offer several directions for future research.

Although product innovation is widely recognized as crucial to the success of organizations, the literature still contains certain gaps that limit our understanding of successful product innovation. These gaps include a lack of research employing a decompositional approach (i,e., analysis of the drivers at each stage of the process) to studying product innovation and a related lack of research investigating the effect of organizational characteristics on specific stages of the product innovation process. The authors attempt to close these gaps by developing and testing a model examining the moderating effects of organizational characteristics on the relationship between the amount of market information gathered and the number of new product ideas generated by work groups in organizations. The study findings provide insights into the types of organizational structure and climate characteristics that can have an impact on the relationship between amount of market information and new product idea generation.

The growing number of academic studies on customer satisfaction and the mixed findings they report complicate efforts among managers and academics to identify the antecedents to, and outcomes of, businesses having more-versus less-satisfied customers. These mixed findings and the growing emphasis by managers on having satisfied customers point to the value of empirically synthesizing the evidence on customer satisfaction to assess current knowledge. To this end, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the reported findings on customer satisfaction. They document that equity and disconfirmation are most strongly related to customer satisfaction on average. They also find that measurement and method factors that characterize the research often moderate relationship strength between satisfaction and its antecedents and outcomes. The authors discuss the implications surrounding these effects and offer several directions for future research.

Product innovation is increasingly valued as a key component of the sustainable success of a business's operations. As a result, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of studies directed at explicating the drivers of new product success. To help managers and researchers synthesize this growing body of evidence, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the new product performance literature. Of the 24 predictors of new product performance investigated, product advantage, market potential, meeting customer needs, predevelopment task proficiencies, and dedicated resources, on average, have the most significant impact on new product performance. The authors also find that the predictor-performance relationships can vary by measurement factor (e.g., the use of multi-item scales, subjective versus objective measures of performance, senior versus project management reporting, time elapsed since product introduction) or contextual factor (e.g., services versus goods, Asian versus North American markets, competition in high-technology versus low-technology markets). They discuss the implications of these findings and offer directions for further research.

More businesses than ever are using telemarketing as a complement to or substitute for face-to-face selling. More businesses than ever are also selling services in lieu of selling goods. Yet, despite these trends, no empirical research has documented the relative effectiveness of telesales versus face-to-face presentations for selling goods versus services. The author begins to fill this void in the literature by presenting an initial investigation into the effects of modality (telesales vs. face-to-face presentation) and offering (a service vs. a good) on consumer recall, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The findings reveal that recall is higher in a face-to-face presentation, attitudes and behavioral intentions are more positive following a telesales presentation for a service, and attitudes and behavioral intentions for a good are unaffected by the nature of the sales presentation. Implications of the findings for research, business practice, and future study are discussed.

As more e-retailers promise their customers that online experiences will be satisfying ones, understanding what creates a satisfying customer experience becomes crucial. Even though this understanding appears crucial, no studies have examined the factors that make consumers satisfied with their e-retailing experiences. To partly fill this void, the authors examine the role that consumer perceptions of online convenience, merchandising (product offerings and product information), site design, and financial security play in e-satisfaction assessments. They find that convenience, site design, and financial security are the dominant factors in consumer assessments of e-satisfaction. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and offer directions for future research.

One stream of research for order of entry effects focuses on the possibility that the order of entry exerts a direct impact on business performance. A second stream of research, the contingency perspective, debates the merits of whether the order of entry, in combination with other market strategy and marketplace variables, is what actually drives business performance. The findings from studies focusing on possible direct effects offer only mixed evidence in favor of a pioneering advantage. The contingency perspective, however, has not been subjected to systematic, empirical scrutiny. Against this backdrop, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the pioneering-market share findings and an examination of the contingency perspective of order of entry effects. The findings from the meta-analysis reveal that, on average, earlier entry is associated with greater market share. The findings from the contingency analysis, however, offer evidence suggesting that the contingency perspective is the more valid perspective for capturing the association between order of entry and market share. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of their findings and several directions for further research.

An issue debated frequently in the international marketing literature centers on whether a business should pursue a strategy that is standardized across national markets or adapted to individual national markets. Of the two aspects relating to standardization of marketing strategy across national markets-(1) standardization of the pattern of resource allocation across marketing mix variables integral to a business's marketing strategy and (2) standardization of the strategy content with respect to individual marketing mix variables-the latter has been the subject of numerous conceptual articles. However, there is a relative dearth of empirical studies on both issues. To partially fill this void, this study addresses empirically the question of the standardization of the pattern of resource allocation among marketing mix variables across national markets. The question is addressed by examining whether competitive strategy and industry structure variables affect market share and business profits similarly or dissimilarly across Western markets, that is, the U. S., U. K., Canada, and Western Europe. The results reveal that with few exceptions, the effects of competitive strategy and market structure variables generalize across these markets. The study findings provide insights into both the merits of standardizing the strategic resource mix across Western markets and the competitive strategy and market structure variables that are major explanators of business performance across Western markets.