The roles of product lead-users and product experts in new product evaluation

Abstract

It is widely recognized in the literature that product innovation is one of the most important research policy issues. As an important product innovation activity, evaluating the market potentials of a new product has also received a great deal of attention in the literature because of its importance to companies as well as to both governmental and non-governmental research institutions. Extending earlier research about product lead-users and product experts and addressing several methodological issues identified in the literature, this study focuses on the roles of product lead-users and product experts in new product evaluation. In particular, the results of a longitudinal empirical study show that there are theoretical and empirical distinctions between product lead-users and product experts with respect to the accuracy of new product evaluations and that it is possible for companies as well as governmental and non-governmental agencies to improve significantly the accuracy of such evaluations.