Abstract:

Purpose:
The digital era with modern technologies had a significant impact on the user/consumer behavior with a general trend of switching emphasis from price-quality ratio of the product to user/customer experience (U/CX), i.e. expected price-experience ratio. U/CX has become a huge determinant of business success of user/customer experience-centric startup/entrepreneurial teams. The experiential design thinking (EDT) approach (Batat, 2021), unlike the traditional design thinking process, puts U/CX at the center of design process and enables entrepreneurs/innovative managers create experience-centric innovation and breakthrough solutions. The research paper is focused on study of EDT construct in entrepreneurial domain and adaptation of the EDT framework for entrepreneurship education.

Research design:
The exploratory research framework included sampling, data collection and analysis by means of sequential levels of categorizations. The sample frame was the university entrepreneurial teams that carried out collaborative product design at the early (fuzzy front-end) stage. The research survey was based on observations of the product and business model design activities, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews of the members of entrepreneurial teams.

Findings and originality:
The study identified five-step EDT framework to manage customer journey and prototyping of the U/CX by entrepreneurial teams, revealed key dimensions and features relevant to collaborative design-based learning for entrepreneurs and innovative managers. The research paper presents a new look at collaborative design and EDT that can be applied to entrepreneurship education to enhance innovative thinking, improve the ability of nascent entrepreneurs and innovative managers to create experience-centric innovation and breakthrough solutions.

Practical implications:
This paper provides framework and guidance for entrepreneurs and innovative managers in designing U/CX and experience-centric innovation.

Keywords:

Experiential design thinking, user/customer experience, collaborative design-based learning, entrepreneurship education, experience-centric innovation, digital.