This document discusses research on utilizing social media tools in new product development. It presents background on how internal use of social media has benefits for companies. The study aims to understand expectations of social media use and actual impacts. A questionnaire was administered before and after implementing social media tools (like blueKiwi and Confluence) at three case organizations. Results found expectations did not match usage, but familiarity with social media led to both high expectations and active use. Benefits included senior managers better supporting organizations and increased intra-organizational awareness for managers and specialists. The conclusion advocates minimizing reluctance across all organizational levels to leverage opportunities from social media.

1. Expectations and benefits of
utilizing social media tools in new
product development
Dr. Tero Peltola & prof. Saku Mäkinen
CITER / Tampere University of Technology, Finland
PICMET’14 Conference | 27.-31.7.2014 | Kanazawa, Japan

2. Tero Peltola / CITER 30.7.2014
Outline
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusions

3. BACKGROUND
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4. Internal use of Web 2.0 applications has
produced measurable gains
% of respondents using Web 2.0 for internal purposes and reporting
the following benefits (avarage data from 2009, 2010, 2011)1
Tero Peltola / CITER 30.7.2014

5. • New product development (NPD)
– Cooper & Kleischmidt
– Kim & Wilemon
• Social media tools
- Haefliger et al.
- Dahl et al.
- Tsai
Background literature
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2007
2002
2011
2011
2001

6. So what we know / expect
• Increased transparency between internal
functions will foster information sharing that is
among the NPD success factors
• The beginning of the NPD is the most
important phase of the whole development
• Social media tools have suggested to have
positive impact on productivity, interactions,
idea generation and harvesting
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7. METHODS
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8. Questionaire preparation
• 1 to 7 Likert scales (41)
• Each of the question items are either adapted
or synthesized from literature
• Pre-test Pilot test Launch
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9. Data collection
• 3 case organizations
• Online surveys
– Initial status
• Winter – Autumn 2012
– Follow-up
• By the end of 2013
• Tools implemented: blueKiwi, Confluence,
Sharepoint with Social Sites
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10. Data collection
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Pre Post Cumulative % share
Gender
Male
Female
119
12
104
17
223
29
88.5%
11.5%
Highest degree
University
Other
109
22
86
35
195
57
77.4%
22.6%
Organization level
Senior manager
Manager
Employee
33
39
59
42
24
45
75
73
104
29.8%
29.0%
41.3%
Organization
NPD
Marketing and Sales
Consulting
Service, installation, implementation
Assembly
Tech support
Other
54
7
15
2
15
17
21
48
4
20
10
2
5
32
102
11
35
12
17
22
53
40.5%
4.4%
13.9%
4.8%
6.7%
8.7%
21.0%

11. Data collection
• 3 case organizations
• Online surveys
– Initial status
• Winter – Autumn 2012
– Follow-up
• By the end of 2013
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Pre data collection
responses
Amount (response rate)
Post data collection
responses
Amount (response rate)
Case 1 37 pcs (46.8%) 33 pcs (38.8%)
Case 2 47 pcs (51.6%) 32 pcs (36.4%)
Case 3 47 pcs (44.8%) 57 pcs* (38%)

12. Data collection
• 3 case organizations
• Online surveys
– Initial status
• Winter – Autumn 2012
– Follow-up
• By the end of 2013
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Comparative (two datasets)
Pre data collection
responses
Amount (response rate)
Post data collection
responses
Amount (response rate)
Case 1 37 pcs (46.8%) 33 pcs (38.8%)
Case 2 47 pcs (51.6%) 32 pcs (36.4%)
Case 3 47 pcs (44.8%) 57 pcs* (38%)

13. RESULTS
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14. Statistical notes
• According to the background information of
respondents (in both initial and follow-up
rounds) the datasets are not biased.
• Datasets represents statistical different
groups (i.e. they are not subsets of the same
dataset)
– Verified by Mann-Whitney U –test; p<0,05
Comparing them is worthwhile
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15. Expectations & Usage
• Expectations and the actual usage are not
alike
– Expectations are correlating with various
communication likelihoods
• But the usage only with intrinsic interactions with
external parties
– Familiarity towards social media technologies
seems to indicate high expectations and also
results active usage
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16. The most important aspect
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Expert
dictionary
Information
transparency
Informal
discussions
Other
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Expert
dictionary
Information
transparency
Informal
discussions
Other
Pre Post

17. Benefits
According to the statistical differences between
active and conservative users
• Senior managers can support more the
organization
• Managers and specialists consider that intra-
organizational awareness has been
increased
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18. CONCLUSIONS
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19. 30.7.2014Tero Peltola / CITER
The impact of the organizational
members’ characteristics should be
minimized by organizational working
practices that utilize the possibilities
of OCT
Reluctance to utilize OCT on the all
organizational levels should be
minimized

20. Acknowledgements
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21. Thank You
• Further questions?
30.7.2014Tero Peltola / CITER
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/teropeltola