Investigating social motivations, opportunity and ability to participate in communities of virtual co‐creation

Abstract

Communities of virtual co-creation are emerging as a new form of consumer engagement, where through a collaborative and interactive process, ideas and knowledge from consumer are applied differently to create new value for the consumers themselves, the company and all stakeholders.The aim of this paper is to explore the drivers, namely motivation, opportunity and ability, of consumer willingness to participate in communities of virtual co-creation. The role of social motivations, that is, altruism and social reputation, particularly relevant inside online communities, is investigated. Data were collected through an online survey on 180 consumers from diverse nationalities. The unit of analysis was a virtual co-creation activity for food products. Findings show that consumer motivation and ability have a relevant influence on willingness to participate in cocreation projects, while opportunity has not. In particular, ability showed to be the most relevant factor, suggesting that virtual co-creation initiatives should be properly designed to facilitate the engagement of consumers. Further, results indicate that consumers' motivations are driven by both altruism and social reputation, where altruism plays a greater role. This confirms that social relations are key motivational drivers in virtual communities, where value is created through interaction with like-minded people, exchange of information and experiences, provision of support.

Customer Value Co-Creation in the Automobile Industry: Antecedents, Satisfaction, and Moderation

“…Also, the results of Hypotheses 2 and 3, that "customers' ability is positively related to co-creation" and "customers' ability influence customers' willingness to be involved in co-creation," respectively, suggest that customers' ability affects value co-creation and also influences customers' willingness to participate in co-creation. These findings concur with the conclusion of earlier studies (Bettiga et al, 2018;Dong et al, 2015) that knowledgeable customers have greater willingness to participate in value co-creation. This shows that customers of automobile companies might not have absolute knowledge in cars; however, basic knowledge in terms of performance of cars, fuel consumption among others, may be known to them and can influence their co-creation with the firm.…”

Cooperation between Final Purchasers and Offerors in the Online and Offline Environments vs. the Benefits Derived by Active Purchasers

“…Among the reasons for final purchasers' involvement in cooperation with other market participants, reasons such as altruism and willingness to help others are also mentioned; however, these studies often concern joint value creation with other purchasers, and moreover, have a narrower subject scope, limited to cooperation only on the internet (e.g., [36,65]). The results of the research presented in this article do not confirm the fact that in the case of cooperation with offerors, purchasers expect such benefits in the first place.…”

“…It can be assumed that cooperation with offerors brings a number of benefits enabling the fulfillment of many needs at the same time, which could not be satisfied by taking only purchasing behavior. An active buyer gains a sense of, for example, exerting influence on the shape of an offer, usefully directing their creativity [34], being recognizable [35], participating in social interactions, contributing to shaping a given community [36], etc. It can therefore be said that cooperation between final purchasers and offerors leads to the achievement of benefits in two dimensions, i.e., individual and collective, which interpenetrate.…”

“…The expected benefits can be interpreted as the reasons for joint activities. The reasons for final purchasers' involvement in cooperation on the internet were analyzed, among others, by Fernandes and Remelhe [51]; Hsieh and Chang [52]; Prebensen and Xie [53]; Nordin and Kowalkowski [54]; and Bettiga, Lamberti, and Noci [36].…”

Text Mining Model for Virtual Community User Portrait Based on Social Network Analysis

“…With the advent of the experience economy (Pin, Glimore 1998) [1], more and more users participate in the process of production, innovation, sales and other aspects. Due to the rapid development of the Internet and the accelerating diffusion of the information, the users could get more information and details about the products and features, which stimulates the enterprise to continually update the products [2]. However, in the face of such changes in the market, the enterprise is difficult to grasp the potential needs of users, so that users directly involved in the product innovation process have become the best solution.…”