Convergence of research areas for customer learning of technical product functionalities

learning how to use technical products is of high interest for customers as well as businesses. Besides product usability, technical documentation in various forms plays a major role for the acceptance of innovative products. Software applications partly integrate personalized learning strategies but late developments in information and communication technology extend these potentials to the non-software sector too. Mobile devices as smartphones allow the linking between physical and virtual world and are thereby eligible instruments for product learning and the application of adequate learning theories. Very few scientific publications accurately addressing the learning of product features and functionalities can be depicted. By applying a research profiling approach as a stepwise analysis of available publications, relevant learning paradigms and their corresponding scientific areas are depicted. As this research topic relates to marketing as well as information systems research the applied approach may also show beneficial for other interdisciplinary intentions. Keywords—problem-based learning; self-regulated learning; self-directed learning; product learning; customer learning; consumer learning