Organizations aim to create products that accomplish customer needs. Fulfilling customer needs through customer involvement in the product innovation process via toolkits usage has seen favorable outcomes for firms. Consequently, the intention of this study is to analyze the impact of toolkits usage on co-creation and innovation, respectively. To achieve the research objectives, we propose a model that develops based on literature to examine the relationship among toolkits usage and co-creation, as well as innovation. The model was examined utilizing survey data from the manufacturing organizations. This study includes a survey of 393 manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The survey questionnaire was distributed personally and online (google link), respectively. Results confirm the effective use of toolkits on co-creation and innovation hence reinforcing the importance of openness in co-creation and innovation theory. The results assert important implications for practitioners wanting to reap benefits from individualized products through toolkits usage. In sum, manufacturers can gamer value from toolkits usage within the context of an emerging economy, like Malaysia.

In the modern business world, firms gain enormous success in innovation by using social media. This approach ostensibly reduces firms’ cost by decreasing reliance on internal research and development. Organizations often use knowledge from other organizations and customers by using social media for innovation. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the impacts of broadcast search and ideation community contest on innovation. Additionally, this study aims to narrow the gap by investigating the mediating role of relationship quality between the two dimensions of social media activities and innovation, respectively. Employing a sample of 393 manufacturing firms in Malaysia, our results confirm that the broadcast search and ideation community contest dimensions of social media activities are positively associated with relationship quality, but ideation community contest also impacts on innovation. Further, the results provide evidence that relationship quality plays a mediating role between ideation community contest and innovation. The central arguments regarding social media activities and their relationship to innovation transcend national boundaries, and many of the policy recommendations are important for Malaysian manufacturing firms.