Customizing products for self versus close others: the effect of intended recipient on creator perceptions of product uniqueness

Customers of mass customization websites measure the utility of the site by the uniqueness of the products they design, yet the factors influencing customizer perceptions of product uniqueness are underexplored. We examine the effect of the intended recipient (self vs. close others) in three studies involving real customization tasks. We show that creators (i.e., product customizers) perceive products designed for close others (vs. for...