Companies can’t dismiss consumers who hack products
Leyland Pitt, SFU Business, 778.782.7712; lpitt@sfu.ca
Ian McCarthy, SFU Business, 778.782.5298; imccarth@sfu.ca
Derek Moscato, SFU Business, 778.782.5038, 604.671.4567; derek_moscato@sfu.ca
Dixon Tam, PAMR, 778.782.8742; dixon_tam@sfu.ca
Companies need to embrace the new wave of empowered consumers who are tinkering and altering their products, according to a new, award-winning study from Simon Fraser University.
The assertion by four researchers, including two professors and a student at SFU, comes in the wake of some high-profile hacking of proprietary technology offerings, including the unlocking of Apple’s iPhone 4 and the hacking of Microsoft’s Kinect gaming device.
Entitled "Creative Consumers: Awareness, Attitude & Action - Instrument & Preliminary Results," the article was authored by marketing researcher Colin Campbell, SFU business professors Leyland F. Pitt and Ian McCarthy, and Bentley University marketing professor Pierre R. Berthon.
The article received the best paper award on the Strategic Marketing track at the Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference held in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this month.
Their study examines the phenomenon of “creative consumers” – those customers who hack, tinker, and mess with the proprietary offerings of firms.
"Creative consumers are becoming a major force in the business world," the authors wrote. "They are adapting, modifying and creating."
It was Apple’s customers – not the company itself – that adapted the iPod for podcasting, which has evolved into a new form of media broadcasting, said the study. On the other hand, when customers tinker with certain pharmaceutical products, or with safety features on automobiles, the potential for danger is great.
To that end, the authors give attention to the development of a scale – or checklist – that firms can use to examine and explore their own attitudes toward the creative consumer phenomenon. In most instances, this phenomenon is to be embraced, but there remain instances in which product hacking can be risky or dangerous.
“By being aware of the phenomenon, knowing what their attitude towards it is, and being able to determine the actions they will take toward it, firms will be better able to deal with creative consumers,” said the researchers.
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