An empirical investigation on the effect of product configurator use on product quality

More and more firms today rely on product configurators to more efficiently and effectively meet increasingly diverse customer needs. In literature, however, the discussion of the performance outcomes of product configurator use (PCU) is limited and largely based on anecdotal evidence. Our paper begins to fill this gap by developing and testing hypotheses about the relationship between PCU and product quality. We find support for the hypotheses that PCU improves product quality and that this relationship is negatively moderated by customer need opacity.