Customer brand engagement and co-production: an examination of key boundary conditions in the sharing economy

Abstract

Purpose Digital platforms have transformed how brands engage with collaborative consumption actors, such as prosumers. This study aims to examine the role of customer innovativeness and perceived economic value as important boundary conditions on the effects of customer brand engagement behavior on co-production, which subsequently influences customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the model using survey data from 430 users of a digital platform (i.e. UBER) in Australia. Hypotheses were tested using the bias-corrected bootstrapping method. Findings The findings suggest that customer innovativeness and perceived economic value positively moderate the effects of customer brand engagement behavior on co-production. Further, the mediating effects of co-production on satisfaction are stronger for highly innovative customers and for those who associate high perceived economic value with the brand. Research limitations/implications This study provides novel insights on the boundary conditions of the effects of customer brand engagement behavior on co-production. Future research could apply this study’s conceptual framework to other digital platforms to extend the generalizability of this framework. Practical implications This study provides managerial insights into how firms can customize marketing strategies to encourage customers as prosumers in co-production by targeting highly innovative customers and focusing on perceived economic value. Originality/value This study builds on service-dominant logic and social exchange theory to examine the role of customer innovativeness and perceived economic value as novel boundary conditions in digital platform ecosystems.

Utilising machine learning to investigate actor engagement in the sharing economy from a cross-cultural perspective

“…Although actor engagement has recently gained attention in the realm of industrial marketing (Kleinaltenkamp et al, 2019;Storbacka, 2019), its exploration within the sharing economy requires further investigation (Brodie et al, 2019;Lin et al, 2019). Previous studies on engagement in the sharing economy have predominantly focussed on customer engagement (Casidy et al, 2022). However, the sharing economy involves multi-actors including customers, service providers and the platform itself (nonhuman), all of which engage with one another to create value.…”

“…In the sharing economy, research has primarily focussed on customer engagement, exploring factors such as financial benefits as motivators for customer engagement (Milanova and Maas (2017). Additionally, studies have examined the impact of customer brand engagement on co-production and customer satisfaction on platforms like Uber (Casidy et al. , 2022).…”

“…Although actor engagement has recently gained attention in the realm of industrial marketing (Kleinaltenkamp et al ., 2019; Storbacka, 2019), its exploration within the sharing economy requires further investigation (Brodie et al ., 2019; Lin et al ., 2019). Previous studies on engagement in the sharing economy have predominantly focussed on customer engagement (Casidy et al. , 2022).…”

Engagement and consumption behavior of eSports gamers

“…Contemporary research shows that the distinction of the function of sellers and buyers is gradually becoming blurred as consumers use cognitive effort to help generate ideas the creation of new products (Hoyer et al, 2010;Witkowski and Manning, 2019).Through this, consumers play a role as partial employee of the firm (Dholakia et al, 2009). The firms, eSports providers in this context, encourage close interactions with consumers, the players and get them involved in co-production of ideas for improvement in eSports experience Consumption behavior of eSports gamers (Casidy et al, 2022). In the present context, when eSports players take keen interest in the games and focus on gaining a better experience, their engagement with the games stimulates the co-production process.…”

Editorial: Engaging Community through Content

“…All types of organizations are interested in learning new and innovative ways to engage their community (Casidy et al, 2022). In the public and private environments need to enhance community engagement for better governance and dissemination of information (Cavaye, 2004) through mass media platforms (Di Virgilio et al, 2022).…”