Making Inclusive Product Design a Reality: How Company Culture and Research Bias Impact Investment

Inclusive product design enables consumers who hold commonly overlooked identities such as people of color, people with disabilities, and older adults to realize the benefits of a product. However, there is a mismatch between the spending power of overlooked consumers and the dearth of products for which companies have invested in inclusive product design. This paper develops an analytical model to examine how company culture and bias in the research process influence the investment in inclusive product design and the product’s expected profitability. Interestingly, the results show that under specific company cultures, a research bias against finding the need for inclusive product design can actually increase the probability of investment in inclusive product design, relative to when there is no research bias. The results of the model define the conditions for when each direction of research bias (in favor or against) can lead to more investment or less investment in inclusive product design. The findings have implications for companies that are able to influence the research bias or the company culture in which the researcher works.