The effect of sales configurator capabilities on the value perceived by the customer through the customization process

Literature has recently conceptualized five capabilities that a sales configurator should deploy in order to help avoid the product variety paradox, namely the risk that offering more product variety and customization, in an attempt to increase sales, paradoxically results in a loss of sales. However, no studies have investigated the effect of such capabilities on the value that users may derive from the experience of customizing their own products. To help narrow this research gap, in the present work we develop a number of hypotheses about the positive impact of such capabilities on the hedonic and creative value obtained by potential customers through the customization experience. We then test the hypothesized relationships and find empirical support for all of them.