New Product Design - Concept, Measurement, and Consequences

The provided text, an excerpt from an academic paper, focuses on new product design as a source of competitive advantage and a driver of company performance. The authors define product design as a multidimensional construct comprising aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism after conducting an extensive literature review and consumer interviews. Crucially, they introduce and validate a new, nine-item scale to measure these three dimensions across different product categories and cultural contexts, using data from thousands of U.S. and European consumers. Finally, the research investigates the impact of these design dimensions on key consumer outcomes, including purchase intention, word of mouth (WOM), and willingness to pay (WTP), finding that all three dimensions positively influence these variables, often mediated by brand attitude.