Contrary to all agreement that methods can efficiently support design activities in the product development process, it can still be heard that notably complex methods often find little acceptance in industrial practice in terms of consistent use. Therefore, this concept paper aims to identify factors influencing the formation of acceptance to support a successful design and implementation of methods in product development. For this purpose, the first necessary step is to clarify the conceptualization of acceptance within this domain. Furthermore, the influencing variables, which are described in the acceptance models having been identified as development-relevant in a literature review, are first extracted and second newly structured using a behavioural model reflecting the mental stages from stimulus to behaviour. Third, the insights gained towards the factors' relevance throughout these stages are applied to the conditions of method application in engineering and design. In a subsequent step, basic assumptions towards central fields of action for concrete measures to increase acceptance concerning the use of methods in product development are derived.