CUSTOMER INVOLVEMENT IN GREEN PRODUCT

INNOVATION: A CAUSAL STUDY FROM

CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

A BUSINESS RESEARCH REPORT

Submitted by

MINSIYA MAJEED

M170032MS

in partial fulfillment of Business Research Project for the award of the degree

of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CALICUT
KOZHIKODE, 673601
APRIL 2019

i
 CERTIFICATE

Certified that the business research project report “Customer Involvement In Green
Product Innovation: A Causal Study From Customer’s Perspective” is the bonafide
work of “Minsiya Majeed, M170032MS” MBA in SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
STUDIES, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CALUCUT carried out
under my supervision during December 2018 to April 2019.

Place: Calicut <<Signature of the Institute Supervisor>>

Date: 25/04/2019 <<Name>>

SUPERVISOR

<<Academic Designation>>

<<Signature of Head of the Department>>

<<Name>>

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

(Office seal)

ii
 DECLARATION

I certify that

a. The work contained in this business research project is original and has been done by myself

under the general supervision of my internal supervisor(s).

b. The work has not been submitted to any other Institute for any degree or diploma.

c. I have followed the guidelines provided by the Institute in writing the report.

d. I have conformed to the norms and guidelines given in the Ethical Code of Conduct of the

Institute.

e. Whenever I have used materials (data, theoretical analysis and text) from other sources, I

have given due credit to them by citing them in the text of the thesis and giving their details

in the references.

f. Whenever I have quoted written materials from other sources, I have put them under

quotation marks and given due credit to the sources by citing them and giving required

details in the references.

Minsiya Majeed

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude to my faculty guide, Dr. Nithya. M. School of Management Studies,

NIT-C, for her guidance, valuable inputs and scholarly advice for doing business research
project and in preparing this report.

I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr T Radha ramanan HOD, School of
Management Studies, NIT Calicut for his mentorship and continuous support.

I would also like to thank all my teachers for their support and encouragement.

Minsiya Majeed
Master of Business Administration
School of Management Studies
National Institute of Technology, Calicut

iv
 ABSTRACT

Although studies have concentrated on green product innovation, it didn’t focus from
customer’s perspective. To address this research gap, this study explores the impact of
customer involvement, knowledge and skill from the customer’s perspective based on the
creativity theory and reciprocity principle. The research hypothesizes were examined
through convenient sampling by collecting 200 responses from general consumers and by
using multiple linear regression. The results indicate that customer involvement, knowledge
and skill of customer have a significant impact on green product innovation.

v
CONTENTS

vi
 List of Abbreviations

CIC : customer involvement as co-developer

CIS : customer involvement as an information source

NPD : New product development

vii
 List of tables

Table no. Table name

1 Summary of Literature Review

2 Model summary and anova table
3 Regression coefficient table

viii
 List of Figures

Figure. No. Figure title

1 Conceptual framework

2 Demographics

ix
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Green products are the products which are environment or eco friendly and which does not
harm environment by means of energy, pollution and any toxic substances (Dangelico, 2017).
According to Commission (2001) green product innovation are the products that have low
negative impacts and risks to the environment, utilize less resources and prevent waste
generation in the product’s disposal phase.

Firms are focusing on developing green product for a number of reasons. The poor product
design and poor product disposal that harm environment will make a serious issue to the
environment in future and therefore it is necessary for a firm to integrate green into product
innovation (Lin et al., 2013). This will not only enhances environment performance (Jabbour
et al., 2015) but also make the firm as a differentiator from the competitor and thereby firm
gains competitive advantage in the market (Lin et al., 2013). Thus adapting green product
innovation will help the firm to achieve sustainability in the market (Dangelico and Pujari,
2010) and to achieve business targets and firm performance. This firm performance includes
both financial benefits like market share, sales, and profitability and non financial benefits
such as brand image and reputation (Weng et al., 2015).

In order to adapt green product innovation firms should consider the drivers of green product
innovation. The pressure from stakeholders like employees and suppliers, customer demand
for green products, market pressure from competitors and government regulations forces
firms to develop green products (Melander, 2017). Hence both external (competitors and
government) and internal stakeholders (customer, supplier and employees) influence green
product innovation (Weng et al., 2015).

There are lots of studies which talks about external collaboration for product innovations and
among them the most important are suppliers and customers (Melander, 2017, Melander,
2018, Zhao et al., 2018). According to Melander (2017) the long term collaboration of
customers and suppliers is a strategic decision for the success of green product innovation as
it build trust and enables knowledge sharing.

Among other primary stakeholders, customers are the potential source of innovation (Joshi
and Sharma, 2004) and also customer benefit plays an important role in environment friendly
innovation (Dangelico, 2016, Kammerer, 2009). With the involvement of customers,

1
organizations can develop products based on customers demand and preferences and hence
involving customer in the early stage of green products innovation helps to make necessary
changes and further it avoid wastage of time (Zhao et al., 2018) there by it will lower the
chance of product failure (Lagrosen, 2005) and also increase the efficiency of green product
innovation (Zhao et al., 2018). Hence the importance of customer involvement in green
product innovation is prominent (De Medeiros et al., 2014). Therefore the best strategy that a
firm can follow is collaborating customer to the innovation process (Herregodts). So it is
necessary to identify the factors that influence customers to take part in green product
innovation. According to Zhao et al. (2018) the impact of customer involvement on green
product innovation will be stronger when there is a high uncertainty such as demand
uncertainty and technological uncertainty which act as a moderating role of customer
involvement on green product innovation. This study is done from firm’s perspective and the
author calls for further researches from customer’s perspective to make the innovation
process effective. In addition, not much study has taken knowledge and skill of customers to
identify its impact on green product innovation. Therefore this study focuses on analyzing
customer involvement in green product innovation from customer’s perspective and the
impact of knowledge and skill of customers.

1.1 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is as follows:

1. To identify whether customer involvement have a significant impact on green product

innovation.
2. To identify whether knowledge and skill of customer have a significant impact on
green product innovation.

2
 CHAPTER: 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 GREEN PRODUCT INNOVATION

Green product innovation includes modifications made to product structure, quality and
wellbeing, to decrease the effect of the whole product life cycle on the earth, for example, the
decrease of poisons at production arrange, efficient utilization of vitality, and using
biodegradable bundling (Kammerer, 2009). The effect of production on nature can be mostly
credited to the utilization phase (like fuel utilization and carbon dioxide discharges of
vehicles) and the transfer stage, (for example, the utilization of and inevitable disposing of
overwhelming metal batteries). To put it plainly, green product innovation puts accentuation
on the decrease of the effect of manufacturing, use, and transfer on nature (Dangelico and
Pontrandolfo, 2010)

2.2 CUSTOMER INVOLVEMENT

Green products development is a primary objective of firms with respect to the increasing
environmental pressures (Dangelico et al., 2017; Lin et al., 2013). The input from customers
plays a prominent role for the success of green product innovation. Low degrees of customer
involvement will leads to receive inaccurate or distorted information, which further results in
a low level of green product innovation.

The importance of identifying and satisfying customer needs to achieve sustained success has
been emphasized in the marketing literature (Raju et al., 2011, Kirca et al., 2005, Liao et al.,
2011). Firms can achieve their market‐ sensing and customer‐ linking capabilities by
focusing on customers and this can lead to superior performance (Im and Workman Jr, 2004).
Since market introduction drives a nonstop and proactive mien toward reacting to client
needs and underscores more prominent utilization of client data, it is observed to be
conductive to green product development (Chen et al., 2015). (Feng et al., 2012) further
recognized customer involvement as a vital part of market introduction and recommended
that corresponding data collected from customers can advise firms regarding issues in new
product improvement that they may have neglected. Thus, customer involvement is probably
going to help firms to make necessary changes in the beginning period of green product
development and to abstain from wastage of time.

Customer involvement gives chances to seeking data and arrangements in the outer learning
space, which can help firms to get to integral assets and abilities advantageously (Laursen

3
and Salter, 2006). Customer involvement enables firms to acquire the passage ticket to join
the richness ties and networks kept up by different firms (Cai et al., 2010). By associating
with countless in the systems, firms can assemble data from a wide scope of sources.
Furthermore, customer involvement extends the connection between a central firm and its
customers. Through customer involvement, manufacturers and customers develop a mutual
understanding and basic methods for cooperating, which improve the productivity of green
product innovation (Zhao et al., 2018). Customer involvement can likewise expand the
effectiveness of social affair data identified with customer request and inclinations. Given its
broad systems, customer involvement establishes data diverts in an inventory network that
lessen the measure of time required for firms to gather information and knowledge (Laursen
and Salter, 2006). Firms actualizing customer involvement may source what they need all the
more proficiently and in this way encourage green product innovation. Moreover, the quickly
sourced information can expand the effectiveness of problem‐ solving exercises, which
further impact green product innovation (Zhao et al., 2018). According to the reciprocity
principle, firms should direct green product innovation to satisfy customer need on
eco‐ friendly products to keep up the respective relationship.

2.3 KNOWLEDGE & SKILL OF CUSTOMER

According to creativity theory, it is the creative talent that enables consumers to come up
with novel and useful ideas and qualifies them to make valuable and innovative contributions
to a producer’s new product development process (Füller et al., 2012). Several attributes like
lead userness, skill, (Franke et al., 2006), experience, knowledge, divergent thinking,
cognitive style, task motivation (Füller et al., 2012), innovativeness and adoption behavior
(Füller et al., 2008) can be used to examine consumers’ creativity (Füller et al., 2012). For the
success of green product innovation, it is necessary to consider the attributes that leads to
consumers’ creativity. Hence for the study, knowledge and skill are used as variables to
identify its impact on green product innovation.

The summary of literature review is listed in the table given below.

4
 RESEARCH GAP

RESPONDENTS
VARIABLES

FINDINGS
AUTHOR

TITLE
SI NO

1 ZHA Externa Customer Customer involvement Future study 198

O, Y., l involvement, and supplier can include Chinese
FENG involve supplier involvement have other manufac
, T. & ment involvement, positive impacts on contingency turing
SHI, and green product green product factors. firm
H. green innovation innovation.
The future
2018. product and
The relationship study can be
innovat environmenta
between customer taken from
ion: l uncertainty.
involvement and green views of
The
product innovation will customers,
modera
be stronger when the suppliers and
ting
level of technological manufactures.
role of
uncertainty is higher.
environ
mental The relationship
uncertai between supplier
nty involvement and green
product innovation will
be stronger when
technological
uncertainty is higher.

2 FÜLL Consu Consumer’s Creativity components Virtual

ER, mers' interest, have an asymmetric new
J., creative Consumers’ impact on consumers’ product
MAT talent: creativity ability to generate develop
ZLER Which components. ideas and to develop ment
, K., charact new products. They (NPD)

5
 HUT eristics also differently affect participa
TER, qualify their interest in open nts
K. & consum innovation activities.
HAU ers for
TZ, J. open
2012. innovat
ion
projects
? An
explora
tion of
asymm
etrical
effects.

3 NAM Virtual Customer Customers’ To study the Virtual

BISA custom benefit, participation in product customers’ custome
N, S. er product support activities in a interactions rs of
& environ development, VCE is motivated by outside the Microso
BAR ments: customer the benefits of VCE. ft and
ON, testing interaction engaging in such The impact of IBM
R. A. a model and co activities. customers’
2009 of creation VCE
volunta interactions
ry on the nature
particip of customers’
ation in relationships
value with the
co‐ cre organization.
ation
activitie
s.

6
4 FRA Finding User A high intensity of The lead-user Online
NKE, comme innovation, lead-user theory so far commun
N., rcially expected characteristics contains ity
VON attracti benefit, displayed by a user has merely member
HIPP ve user innovation a positive impact on situation- s of kite
EL, E. innovat attractiveness the likelihood that the specific surfing
& ions: A , commercial respective user yields a variables. It
SCHR test of attractiveness commercially would be
EIER, lead‐ u attractive innovation. interesting to
M. ser analyze how
2006. theory. far a high
intensity of
lead user
characteristics
correlate with
individual
factors like
personality
trait

5 FÜLL Brand Consumer Consumer interest in Member

ER, commu creativity, innovations and the s of the
J., nity Consumer innovative process that Volksw
MAT membe involvement, drives them to get agen
ZLER rs as a brand trust, involve in new product Golf
, K. & source brand development. GTI car
HOPP of knowledge, Brand community commun
E, M. innovat brand members with more ity
2008. ion. passion. knowledge and more
innovative skills seem
to be more willing to
contribute than less

7
 qualified community
member.

6 Yu- Explore Customer customer loyalty, To identify Consum

Jia Hu signific Loyalty, brand equity and more effective ers
2012. ant Perceived perceived risk have factors to having
factors Risk, Brand significant and positive influence the the
to Equity, relationship to customer shoppin
affect Customer customer involvement involvement g
custom Involvement. experien
er ce for
involve digital
men camera.

7 Ching The Corporate Corporate Future 136

-Hsun Determ environmenta environmental research can Taiwan
Chang inants l commitment positively focus on other manufac
2016. of commitment, affects green product countries and turing
Green green human innovation other compani
Product capital, green performance directly industries or es.
Innovat adaptive and positively areas.
ion ability, green influences it indirectly
To find out
Perfor product via green adaptive
the
mance innovation, ability.
differences of
sustainable Green human capital
corporate
development does not affect green
environmental
product innovation
commitment,
performance directly
green human
capital, green
adaptive
ability, and
green product

8
 innovation
performance
in the
different
stages of the
development
in the
Taiwanese
manufacturing
industry.

8 Ru- Market Market Market demand is To study on Vietnam

Jen demand demand, positively correlated to other ese
Lina, , green Green both green product industries in motorcy
Kim- product product innovation and firm Vietnam or a cle
Hua innovat innovation. performance. comparison industry
Tan ion, and Green product study with
and firm innovation other country
Yong perform performance is also Future studies
Geng ance: positively correlated to can include
2012. evidenc firm performance. wider
e from variables to
Vietna examine the
m effects of
motorc market
ycle demand,
industr green product
y innovation
and firm
performance
in more depth.

9
9 Claud To tell Product There are benefits at To include students
ia or not innovation, the corporate level both younger , users
Costa to tell? New product (higher perceptions of (Generation and
and The development, innovation ability) to Z) and older professi
Rita impact Innovation inform the market generations onals
Coelh of adoption, about consumer (Generation X
odoV commu Product involvement, and baby
ale nicating complexity particularly when boomers).
2018. consum consumers and
The study of
erpartic company professionals
customer
ipation work together.
involvement
in new The product
in
product complexity plays a
development
develop critical role in
stage.
men translating the
perceptions of greater
corporate abilities
(innovation) in
purchase intention, and
it is particularly
beneficial for low-
complexity products.
10 Anna Utilizin Customer The impact of To examine Member
S. Cui g involvement, customer involvement other s of the
& custom Customer co on product contingent Product
Fang er creation, performance is factors such Develop
Wu. knowle Knowledge contingent upon the as change of ment
2015. dge in management, firm’s technological market and
innovat product capability demand and Manage
ion: Innovation technological ment
anteced turbulence Associat
ents that may ion
and influence the (PDMA

10
 impact benefit of )
of customer
custom involvement.
erinvol
vement
on new
product
perform
ance.

11 Lisa Achievi Green The most common The review Review

Melan ng innovation, collaborators of green can include of 67
der Sustain sustainable product innovation are process papers
2017. able development, suppliers and innovation.
Develo collaborative customers. The drivers
To include
pment innovation of green product
other
by innovation include
collaborative
Collabo economic factors,
partner, such
rating regulations, customer
as
in demand,
universities,
Green competitiveness and
research
Product firm performance
institutes,
Innovat
competitors
ion
and start-ups.

12 Anna The Customer CIS is more beneficial How CIS and Member
Shaoji Impact involvement, for new product CIC may s of the
e Cui of new product outcomes when firms contribute to Product
and Custom development. take a more these Develop
Fang er experimental NPD outcomes ment
Wu Involve approach. differently and
2016. ment depending on Manage
on New The effect of CIC is the firm’s ment

11
 Product stronger when the NPD experimental Associat
Develo process is NPD ion
pment: characterized with approach. (PDMA
Conting lower experimentation. )
To examine
ent and CIS and CIC also
other
Substit substitute for each
contingent
utive other in their
factors that
Effects contribution to new
will offer a
* product outcomes.
more
When considering the
complete
adoption of CIC, firms
understanding
should take into
of when
account their learning
customer
approaches as well as
involvement
the effectiveness of
is able to
CIS in the NPD
improve
process
innovation
performance.

To examine
the impact of
CIC on
existing NPD
processes.

13 Lisa Custom Cross- Knowledge Study of Five

Melan er and functional, management with the environmental large
der Supplie firm collaborative partners non- internati
2018 r collaboration, like customer and governmental onal and
Collabo green suppliers as well as organization innovati
ration innovation, internally in the firm is collaborations ve firms
in product important in of
Green development, collaborative manufac

12
 Product sustainability innovations. turing
Innovat and
ion: telecom
Externa industry
l and
Internal
Capabil
ities

14 Yang Factors Subject In virtual brand To investigate staff

Zhao influen factors such communities, more member
and cing as self- customers’ willingness diversified s of
Yawe custom efficacy and to participate in value customers to virtual
n ers’ outcome co-creation would be make the brand
Chen willing expectation, influenced by subject sample more commun
2018 ness to environment factors, environment representative. ities
particip factors such factors, brand factors
ate in as and perceived value
virtual community factor.
brand atmosphere, Customer involvement
commu community is an important
nity’s experience moderator. The more
value and involved the customer
co- community is, the more he/she will
creation trust and rely on the virtual
The brand factors brand community.
modera such as brand Customer involvement
ting identity and has a positive
effect brand loyalty moderating effect on
of the influence of subject
custom factors, while it has a
er negative moderating

13
 involve effect on the influence
ment of community
experience and
community trust.
Perceived value plays a
significant mediating
role between subject
factors and customers’
willingness to
participate in value co-
creation.
15 Stefan Custom Product The use of formal Quantitative Case
Lagro er development, methods for customer studies on studies,
sen involve Customer involvement is found customer compani
2014. ment in satisfaction, to be limited. involvement es in
new Relationship There are creative in different Sweden.
product marketing, ways of using cross- levels of
develop Innovation, functional teams in relationships
ment A Team small companies. with the firm.
relation working
ship
marketi
ng
perspec
tive

16 Domi The Customer Customer co creation To include Europea

nik Value acceptance, is most successful for other n firms
Mahr, of Learning the creation of highly dimensions in
Anno Custom success, relevant but such as industria
uk er Knowledge moderately novel knowledge l
Lieve Cocreat relevance, knowledge. credibility or producti
ns, ed Knowledge Co creation with accuracy that on,

14
 and Knowle novelty, customers who are may also wholesa
Vera dge Knowledge closely related to the affect the le,
Blaze during costs innovating firm results creation of retailing
vic the in more highly relevant knowledge , and
2014. Innovat knowledge at a low and its use. financial
ion cost and
Process technolo
gy-
driven
services

17 Peter Explori Originality, User involvement can Students

R. ng the User value, actually be a stimulus from
Magn Contrib Producibility for review of a Swedish
usso. utions company’s business universit
2009 of strategy. y
Involvi
ng
Ordinar
y Users
in
Ideatio
n of
Techno
logy-
Based
Service

18 Rosa What Market Product radicalness Future 188

Maria Drives Performance and differentiation research Italian
Dange Green of Green have partially different should test compani
lico Product Products, antecedents in terms of this study’s es.
2017. Develo Green motivations, while results in
pment Product being a family firm other

15
 and Characteristi positively influences countries.
How do cs, only product
To analyze
Differe Motivations differentiation. With
the effect of
nt for Green regards to factors
firm
Antece Product affecting market
characteristics
dents Development performance of green
on green
Affect . products, prospect of
product
Market market benefits,
characteristics
Perfor availability of new
and market
mance? technologies, firm
performance
A foreign ownership,
over time.
Survey product radicalness and
of differentiation show a
Italian positive influence,
Compa while firm age displays
nies a negative effect.
with
Eco-
Labels

19 Longz Linking Green The results reveal that To make a 176

heng green customer green customer study from Chinese
Du, custom integration, integration, green customer’s manufac
Zheng er and Internal supplier integration, and supplier’s turing
lin supplier integration, and their interaction perspective firms
Zhang integrat Green are all positively
, ion supplier related to green
Taiwe with integration, innovation
n green Green performance. Internal
Feng. innovat innovation integration moderates
2018 ion performance. the relationship
perform between green
ance: customer integration

16
 The and green innovation
role of performance, but does
internal not moderate the
integrat relationship between
ion green supplier
integration and green
innovation
performance.
The effects of
interaction term on
green innovation
performance and the
moderating effects of
internal integration on
the relationship
between green supplier
integration and green
innovation
performance are
significantly different
across different firm
sizes.
20 Dayua The Legitimacy Legitimacy pressure Future studies Top 100
n Li a, impact pressure, from stakeholders has should focus listed
Mi of Green a significantly positive on other firms, compani
Zheng legitim product influence on both within es in
, acy innovation, corporate green different China
Cuicu pressur Green product innovation and scales and from
i Cao, e and process process innovation. different 2008 to
Xiaoh corpora innovation, Corporate profitability countries. 2012
ong te Corporate positively affects green
Che, profitab profitability. product innovation and
Sheng ility on it has no significant

17
 gang green influence on green
Ren , innovat process innovation.
Min ion:
Corporate profitability
Huan Eviden
positively moderates
g ce from
the relationship
2016. China
between legitimacy
top 100
pressure and green
product innovation.

The results show that

not only the single
factor of external
legitimacy pressure
and internal
profitability, but also
their interaction,
affects corporate green
innovation practices.

Table 1.

18
 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

To explore the impact on green product innovation, three independent variables

customer involvement, knowledge and skill was used. This study, it is hypothesized
that three variables: customer involvement, knowledge, skill will be positively related
to green product innovation. The conceptual framework is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1

The following Hypothesis was developed for the study:

H1: customer knowledge has significant impact on green product innovation

H2: customer skill has significant impact on green product innovation

H3: customer involvement has significant impact on green product innovation

3.2 SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION

Convenient sampling was done for data collection. The respondents were general
consumers. The sample size were calculated using the thumb rule (Roscoe, 1975),

Sample size = (number of Variables/questions)*10

The total number of questions prepared for the survey was 20; hence the sample size
calculated was 200.

19
Questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. There were three sections in the
questionnaire. In section I, it collected information about the consumer’s demographic
data such as gender, education and occupation. In the second section, it collected the
feedback of customers regarding the independent variables (customer involvement,
knowledge and skill of customers). In the last section, the opinion of customers about
green product innovation is collected.

From the responses collected, 58% were male and 42% were female under which
majority of the respondents were students (87.5%) followed by teaching staff (9.5%) and
non teaching staff (3%) and also majority of the respondents have post graduation (66%),
followed by under graduates (23%) and PhD (11%).

Occupation
100

90
87.5
80

70

60

50
Non teaching staff

40 Student
Teaching staff
30

20

10
9.5
3
0
Non teaching Student Teaching
staff staff

20
 Gender

Female
42%

Male
58%

Education
PhD Post graduate Under graduate

11%
23%

66%

Figure 2. Demographics

3.3 VARIABLES AND MEASURES

The survey questions for the constructs used five‐ point Likert scales, ranging from 1 =
strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree. The questionnaire was given in Appendix A.

21
3.3.1 Customer involvement

To assess customer involvement, we adapted scale items that measure the opinion of
customers regarding their involvement in green product innovation (Zhao et al., 2018).
Sample items included “I am ready to propose new ideas to Green product innovation”,
“According to me, customer’s opinion should be consider in the development of green
products” etc.

3.3.2 Knowledge

To assess the knowledge of customer about green product innovation , scale items such as ” I
consider myself as very knowledgeable to contribute to green product development”, “I
possess profound know-how (e.g., concerning technology, materials, market understanding,
product design) relevant for green product development” were used (Füller et al., 2012).

3.3.3 Skill

To assess the skill of customers in green product innovation , scale items such as ” I have
skills to contribute to green product developments, compared to a professional product
developer”, “I have skills to contribute to green product developments, compared to the
leisure activity that I am best at” were used (Füller et al., 2012).

3.3.4 Green product innovation

To assess green product innovation, we adapted scale items that measure the interest of
customers to participate in green product innovation (Zhao et al., 2018). Sample items
included “I am interested to participate again in green product development”, “I am interested
in the generation of new ideas and problem solutions for green product development” etc.

22
 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

SPSS is the statistical tool used for analysis. Multiple linear regression is used to analyze
the objectives of the study. From Table 2, it is found that R square value is .525.
Therefore it can be understood that the dependent variable, green product innovation
constitute 52.5% of the variability of independent variables.

Table 2 Model summary and Anova table

We know that, Regression equation: Y =a +bx

Where, Y=Green product innovation, a =constant, b=slope, x=independent variable

Also from Table 3, the Regression equation for green product innovation can be
developed as follows:

23
 Green product innovation:

y=-0.428+0.34*Customer involvement+0.449*knowledge+0.282*skill

Table 3 Regression coefficient table

From Table 3, the significant value of the variables customer involvement, knowledge and
skill is found to be less than 0.05. Therefore from the result, it can be found as customer
involvement, knowledge and skill of customer have a significant impact on green product
innovation.

24
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE STUDY

5.1 IMPLICATIONS

For an effective green product innovation, organizations can built knowledge and skill
enrichment among customers to involve them in green product innovation. The
willingness of customers to participate in green product innovation is found to be high
in this study and this implies that organizations can easily meet customer demand on
eco‐ friendly products by maintaining a bilateral relationship with the customers.
Customers with good knowledge and skill have a good impact on green product
innovations. Hence firms should make efforts to include such customers in the
innovation part. To implement customer involvement, firms should devote a great
number of resources to make the best use of knowledge and skill available from
customers.

5.2 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY & FUTURE SCOPE

The study is limited to confined sample therefore cautious generalization is required.

The variables knowledge, skill of customers are only analyzed and further study can
done by analyzing the role of experience of customers in green product innovation can
be studied. To understand further about the factors that influence customers to take
participation in green product innovation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of
customers can be studied. The applicability of the model in specific sector is limited
and this study didn’t confine to any single brand; therefore future study can be done on
the influence of brand loyalty for customer involvement. And also preference of
customers in choosing the platform to involve in the innovation part is not done in this
study hence further study can focus on the preference of platform by customer for their
involvement in green product innovation.

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 APPENDIX A

Questionnaire

As a key customer

1. I am ready to propose new ideas to Green product innovation

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

2. According to me, customer’s opinion should be consider in the development of green

products

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

3. In my opinion, customers should be involved in the green product design and

development stage

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

4. According to me, customer has major influence on the design of green products

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

5. In my opinion, firm has a strong consensus to involve customers in Green product

innovation

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

6. In my opinion, companies have to conduct green product improvement programs with

key customers.

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

7. I consider myself as very knowledgeable to contribute to green product development

28
 Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly
disagree disagree

8. I possess profound know-how (e.g., concerning technology, materials, market

understanding, product design) relevant for green product development

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

9. I have skills to contribute to green product developments, compared to a professional

product developer

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

10. I have skills to contribute to green product developments, compared to the leisure activity
that I am best at

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

11. I am very curious about how things work regarding green product development

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

12. I like to build my own equipment/things

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

13. I like to fix and improve things

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

14. I am an inventive kind of person

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

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15. I consider myself to be creative and original in my thinking and behavior

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

16. I have creative ideas

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

17. I am interested to participate again in green product development

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

18. I am interested in the generation of new ideas and problem solutions for green product
development

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

19. I am interested in Evaluation and selection of green product concepts

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

20. I am interested in Experiencing and testing green products

Strongly agree agree Neither agree nor disagree Strongly

disagree disagree

30