O efeito da autoeficácia sobre as motivações dos clientes para participarem na inovação em serviços

Abstract

Taking into consideration the new realities in technology and in the economy, which have a direct impact on the global market, innovation has been highlighted as an important phenomenon and is becoming a critical factor, especially as a competitive advantage for organizations. Researchers have sought to describe different processes and stages in which innovative mechanisms can be used for developing products and services. In light of this, researchers also have aimed at understanding the important role that the client can have in the development processes. Considering the presence of clients in companies internal projects and the benefits and advantages in which such participation can result, marketing studies - more specifically in the area of consumer behavior - focused on identifying behavioral connections and factors that would be involved in such participation. Based on these inferences, research studies related to motivation aimed at empirically reporting the motivations which lead consumers to participate in such projects and the benefits of doing so. Permeating these matters, researchers stress the importance of further exploration of other factors that could be related to the clients motivations to contribute in projects of this dimension, especially factors that could potentiate the effects of motivation on participation. Thus this thesis aimed to empirically evaluate (based on an online survey) the effect of the self-efficacy variable as the moderator of clients motivations in relation to their participation in innovation activities in services. 359 questionnaires were obtained from clients participating in innovation projects from two distinct companies. The results showed that the direct effect of motivation on participation is significant, which was also proven in the direct effect of self-efficacy on participation. Furthermore, the results revealed that self-efficacy, acting as moderator, not presented significant result. Based on the results, contributions of academic and managerial natures have been proposed, as well as limitations and suggestions for future research.