A value chain process model of consumer co-creation activities

With path-breaking advances in technology, consumers have become more informed, connected, and empowered than ever before in hypermedia computer-mediated environments (CMEs). No longer passive recipients in the value creation process, consumers are increasingly active participants co-creating value through interactions with companies and other stakeholders. This has also triggered theoretical evolutions in the marketing discipline, extending from exchange to value creation to value co-creation paradigm. Now, value co-creation has emerged as the central theme in contemporary marketing with a growing body of literature to advance our understanding around the concept. However, there is lack of consensus on the definition, theoretical domains, or process of value co-creation, creating a need to provide an integration of the different existing perspectives around the concept in the literature with empirical validation of the process. By integrating two primary theoretical perspectives on co-creation in the literature (technology and innovation management perspective and service science perspective), my dissertation examines the antecedents and consequences of a wide spectrum of consumer value co-creation activities, ranging from pre-launch (i.e. co-ideation, co-test, co-design, and co-finance) to post-launch (co-promotion, co-distribution, co-maintenance, and co-price). The objective of this paper is to empirically examine the entire process of value co-creation from the marketer-initiated co-production efforts, such as B2C and C2C interaction, equity, and knowledge sharing, to consumers’ value-in-use through experience, relationship, customization, and satisfaction across a variety of value co-creation activities. Using the online video gaming industry as a context for data collection, a total of 561 online video game players completed the survey. Survey-based data collected to test the proposed framework was analyzed using structural equation modeling approach. The results show that pre-launch and post-launch co-creation have different sets of significant antecedents and consequences. As for the drivers of dual forms of interaction (B2C and C2C interaction) knowledge sharing has a positive effect on both B2C interaction and C2C interaction while equity positively impacts B2C interaction only. The influence of consumer motivations varies depending on the nature of interactions. While economic motivation is the only primary predictor for B2C interaction, C2C interaction is found to be influenced by social motivation and psychological motivation. As for the consequences of C2C and B2C interactions, they have different effect on consumer participation in pre- and post-launch co-creation activities. C2C interaction has positive effect on both pre- and post-launch co-creation activities, while B2C interaction has direct positive impact only on pre- not on post-launch co-creation activities; yet indirect effect on post-launch co-creation activities through C2C interaction. Interestingly, this indicates that C2C interaction fully mediates the relationship between B2C interaction and consumer participation in post-launch co-creation activities. Consumers’ co-created outcomes (i.e. value-in-use) are influenced differently depending on consumer participation in pre- vs. post-launch stages. While perceived level of customer relationship and satisfaction are highly influenced regardless of the types of consumer co-creation participation, experience is impacted only by post-launch co-creation participation while personalization is impacted only by pre-launch co-creation participation.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Kyungwon Le