Jaakko Aspara | D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Adm.) | M.Sc. (Tech.) | tel. +358505468891 | jaakko.aspara(at)hse.fi
DESIGN PATRONAGE – How do people’s evaluations of companies’ product design affect their investment choices?
My central research problem is: How and to what extent do individuals’ subjective evaluations of companies’ product design affect their decisions to invest in the companies’ stocks? The potential impact has its foundations in a use/ownership experience which spans beyond the use experience related to individual products and the creation of meanings around them to the creation of meanings around companies designing the products. With “design patronage”, I refer to the phenomenon of interest whereby an individual invests in a company’s stock partly because he/she likes the company’s products and finds them personally relevant.