New Generation Consumption Upgrading and Empathy-Driven Innovation
Driving effective synergy between demand-side management and supply-side structural reform is a significant topic of concern for both academia and practitioners.In the context of changing demographics and consumer attitudes,this paper explores the characteristics of new generation consumption upgrading,identifies the construct of"empathy-driven innovation",and delves into how the new generation consumption upgrading impacts firms'empathy-driven innovation.This paper uses in-depth interviews to summarize the characteristics of consumption upgrading in Generation Z,and adopts an exploratory multiple case study to reveal the pattern of empathy-driven innovation.Further,the relationship between the consumption upgrading of Generation Z and empathy-driven innovation is explored.Three sample firms in this paper target Generation Z as their target customers and place great importance on Generation Z during their innovation.The results indicate that new generation consumption upgrading is reflected in three dimensions:the upgrading of consumption capability,consumption content,and consumption pattern.It presents the following characteristics of less price sensitivity,frequent consumption,spiritual attributes and non-fundamental attributes of consumption content,high-tech embeddedness,and interest-based consumption stratification.The results also show that empathy-driven innovation includes empathy-based demand identification,product development and innovation diffusion.Specifically,firms engage in cognitive and affective empathy to understand users'explicit demands and discover their implicit demands.Then,firms design prototypes and conduct layered testing based on perspective-taking and user experience.Moreover,firms promote and retain users through emotional contagion and attachment.This paper summarizes the impact of the consumption upgrading of Generation Z on empathy-driven innovation into three effects:potential revenue stimulation effect,problem stimulation effect,and adaptive matching effect.Specifically,the upgrading of the consumption ability increases the expected revenue of innovation,so firms are more willing to innovate for Generation Z.The upgrading of consumption content causes the existing products(to be)difficult to meet users'expectations well,forcing firms to carry out empathy-driven innovation.The upgrading of the consumption pattern prompts firms to adjust the approach of current innovation diffusion to ensure the effectiveness of innovation diffusion.This paper makes the following contributions.First,it reveals the dimensions and characteristics of the new generation consumption upgrading.It links intergenerational differences—an important sociological concept—with consumption upgrading,which enriches the research perspective of existing literature on consumption upgrading.Then,it identifies a novel concept of empathy-driven innovation.This is an emerging innovation approach that focuses on empathizing with users'demands and aims to create products that resonate with users'emotions and feelings.Moreover,it finds the influence mechanism of the new generation consumption upgrading on empathy-driven innovation.The practical implications are as follows.The government can inspire the new generation's consumption by creating novel consumption scenarios and establishing new spaces of consumption.Furthermore,to improve competitive advantages,firms need to take the new generation as their target customer and readjust their product and brand positioning.It is also important for firms to provide more diverse and high-quality products to meet the expectations of the new generation.Empathy is the key to innovation,as it helps to understand and share the same feelings and struggles that customers feel.Firms can put themselves in customers'shoes and develop products that make users feel pleasure,thus increasing the competitiveness of their products.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
