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• Mugge, R

Dr. ir. R. Mugge (Ruth) 

Assistant Professor of Consumer Research
Product Innovation and Management

Biography

2005 - now        Assistant Professor (Delft University of Technology)

2003 - 2005       Teaching assistant (Delft University of Technology) for Design courses and Statistics

Education

2001 - 2007	PhD in Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands), on “Product attachment”
1995 - 2001	M.Sc. (cum laude) in Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)
1996	Propaedeutics (cum laude) in Industrial Design Engineering (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)

Specialisation / field of research

Product attachment

• Why do consumers become attached to certain products?
• (How) can designers influence the experience of an emotional bond to products?
• How does an emotional bond to a product change over time?

Product appearance

• Why do consumers aesthetically appreciate certain products more than others?
• How can product appearance affect the perceived meanings of products?
• How do consumers use the product appearance to draw inferences about functional attributes?

Mass customization and product personalization

• In which ways can consumers create personalized products?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of creating products yourself?
• Which personalization strategy should companies implement in their products?

Lectures and/or coaches students on:

IO 1080 Research and Design

IO 1060 Business, Cultuur en Techniek

Graduation projects on consumer research, product innovation, marketing, and product personalization.

Some examples of graduation projects that I supervised are:

• Anne Jochems: Research 2.0. The development of an online tool for qualitative consumer research, using web 2.0 (for Ruigrok/Netpanel)
• Salomé Galjaard: Dynamic lighting developing tool for lighting designers (Philips Lighting)
• Sanne Martens: Strategic design advice to differentiate Sony-Ericsson’s product portfolio to enhance the purchase consideration of female end users (Sony-Ericsson)

Publications

Academic Journals

Mugge, Ruth, Frédéric F. Brunel, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2010), "Consumer responses to the mass-customization of product aesthetics," Submitted to the Journal of Product Innovation and Management.

Blijlevens, Janneke, Claus C. Carbon, Ruth Mugge, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2010), Independent effects of arousal and processing fluency on aesthetic appraisal of product designs, Submitted to the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2010), "Product attachment and satisfaction: Understanding consumers' post-purchase behavior," Journal of Consumer Marketing, forthcoming.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2009), "Incorporating consumers in the design of their own products. The effect on product attachment," Journal of Engineering Design, 20 (5), 467-476.

Mugge, Ruth, Pascalle C. M. Govers, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2009), "The development and testing of a product personality scale," Design Studies, 30, 287-302.

Mugge, Ruth, Jan P. L. Schoormans, and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein (2009), "Incorporating consumers in the design of their own products. The dimensions of product personalization," CoDesign, 5 (2), 79-97.

Heule, Elise J. C., Richard H. M. Goossens, Ruth Mugge, Eva Dietz, and Freerk Heule (2007), “Using an indentation measurement device to assess foam mattress quality,” Ostomy Wound Management, Vol. 53 (11), 56-62.

Mugge, Ruth, Jan P. L. Schoormans, and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein (2005), "Design strategies to postpone consumers' product replacement: The value of a strong person-product relationship," The Design Journal, 8 (2), 38-48.

 

Books

Mugge, Ruth (2008), "Emotional bonding with products. Investigating product attachment from a design perspective," VDM Publishing.

 

Book chapters

Mugge, Ruth and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2009), "Optimizing consumer responses to mass customization," Mass Customization for Personalized Communication Environments: Integrating Human Factors, in press.

Mugge, Ruth, Jan P. L. Schoormans, and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein (2007). "Product attachment: Design strategies to stimulate the emotional bonding with products," in Product Experience, eds. Paul Hekkert and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, Elsevier, 425-440.

Mugge, Ruth and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2006). "Tackling today's consumption pattern: The role of product attachment for extending product lifetime," in Sustainability Made in Delft, ed. Karel F. Mulder, Delft: Eburon Academic Publishers, 69-75.

Mugge, Ruth and Pascalle C. M. Govers (2004). "Product uiterlijk (Product appearance)," in Productontwikkeling en Marketing (Product Development and Marketing), eds. Erik Jan Hultink and Jan P. L. Schoormans, Amsterdam: Pearson, 204-219.

 

PhD thesis

Mugge, Ruth (2007). Product Attachment, Delft: Delft University of Technology.

 

Conference proceedings

Mugge, Ruth and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2010). "What is novel is good? The value of a novel appearance for evaluating a product's performance quality and ease of use," Submitted to the SCP 2010 conference.

Blijlevens, Janneke, Claus C. Carbon, Ruth Mugge, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2010). "The independent effect of arousal and processing fluency on aesthetic appraisal of new-to-the-market product designs," Submitted to the SCP 2010 conference.

Mugge, Ruth, Frédéric F. Brunel, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2009). "Consumer responses to the mass-customization of product aesthetics," ACR 2009 conference.

Blijlevens, Janneke, Ruth Mugge, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2009). "Are modern products curved or angular? The effect of the prototype shape on the perceived product meaning," in Proceedings of the EMAC 2009 conference.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2008). "Product attachment and satisfaction: The effects of pleasure and memories," in European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 8, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 325-331.

Mugge, Ruth, Jan P. L. Schoormans, and Addie De Lange (2007), "Consumers' appreciation of product personalization," in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 34, eds. Gavan Fitzsimons and Vicki Morwitz, Orlando: Association for Consumer Research, 339-341.

Mugge, Ruth, Frédéric F. Brunel, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2007). "Psychological and behavioral responses to the mass customization of product aesthetics," in Proceedings of the MCPC 2007 conference.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2006). "A longitudinal study on product attachment and its determinants," in European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 7, eds. Karin M. Ekström and Helene Brembeck, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 641-647.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2006). "Product attachment and product lifetime: The role of personality congruity and fashion," in European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 7, eds. Karin M. Ekström and Helene Brembeck, Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research, 460-466.

Mugge, Ruth and Pascalle C. M. Govers (2004). "'I love my Jeep, because its tough like me': The effect of product-personality congruence on product attachment," in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Design and Emotion, ed. Aren Kurtgözü, Ankara, Turkey.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2004). "Personalizing product appearance: The effect on product attachment," in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Design and Emotion, ed. Aren Kurtgözü, Ankara, Turkey.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2004). That's my own creation! Experiencing attachment to self-altered products. In Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology 2004 Winter Conference, eds. Amar Cheema, Scott Hawkins and Joydeep Srivastava, San Francisco, CA.

Schifferstein, Hendrik N. J., Ruth Mugge, and Paul Hekkert (2004). "Designing consumer-product attachment," in Design and Emotion: The Experience of Everyday Things, Vol. Deana McDonagh, Paul Hekkert, Jeroen Van Erp and Diane Gyi, London: Taylor & Francis, 327-331.

Mugge, Ruth, Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2003). "Product attachment: The effects of utility, appearance, and memories," in Proceedings of the 32nd European Marketing Academy Conference, eds. Michael Saren and Alan Wilson, Glasgow, UK.

 

Professional publications

Mugge, Ruth (2007), “Why do consumers become attached to their products,” uiGarden (Internet journal), http://www.uigarden.net/english/why-do-people-become-attached-to-their-products. 

Mugge, Ruth and Jan P. L. Schoormans (2005), "Product personalisatie. Kan de consument zijn eigen product ontwerpen? (Product personalization. Can a consumer design his own product?)," Product, November, 9-11.

 

Awards and grants

Mugge, R. (2009), The value of product form for evaluating the experience and credence attributes of consumer durables, Veni research grant (4 years) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Total grant: €250.000,-.

Mugge, Ruth, Jan P. L. Schoormans, and Hendrik N. J. Schifferstein, (2005). Consumers as co-designers: Consumers’ appreciation of product personalization, Winner of the 2005 PDMA Research Proposal Competition. Total award: $2500.