TY - JOUR
T1 - Devil or angel : how virtual testing environment can affect product evaluations
AU - PENG, Ling
AU - HE, Yongfu
AU - WAN, Xiang
PY - 2011/1/1
Y1 - 2011/1/1
N2 - While new product evaluation testing plays a pivotal role in the NPD process, there is little empirical evidence on the influence of the virtual testing environment on the evaluation results and the data quality. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by using a split-sample online concept testing-like study to compare the testing results in traditional and virtual environments for five heterogeneous innovations. The findings indicate that both traditional and virtual testing environments yield identical mean scores, while the latter provides higher-quality data given the same sampling design. Early concept or product tests, therefore, may be carried out in a more realistic testing environment using virtual techniques, which could substantially enhance the quality of testing data.
AB - While new product evaluation testing plays a pivotal role in the NPD process, there is little empirical evidence on the influence of the virtual testing environment on the evaluation results and the data quality. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by using a split-sample online concept testing-like study to compare the testing results in traditional and virtual environments for five heterogeneous innovations. The findings indicate that both traditional and virtual testing environments yield identical mean scores, while the latter provides higher-quality data given the same sampling design. Early concept or product tests, therefore, may be carried out in a more realistic testing environment using virtual techniques, which could substantially enhance the quality of testing data.
UR - http://commons.ln.edu.hk/sw_master/618
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84859992164&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2501/IJMR-53-3-415-437
DO - 10.2501/IJMR-53-3-415-437
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 1470-7853
VL - 53
SP - 415
EP - 437
JO - International Journal of Market Research
JF - International Journal of Market Research
IS - 3
ER -