I create, you create, we all create – for whom?

Abstract

Purpose This research aims to propose that prompted co-creation from a brand to a consumer will increase the value of the consumer to the brand through an increase in brand commitment and purchase intention. Additionally, the study compares the differences of a social media post made by a brand and a social media post made by a celebrity who is endorsing the brand. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were developed. First, a 2 × 2 between-subjects’ experimental design analyzes the effects of prompted and non-prompted co-creation posts by a fictitious brand and celebrity. Study 2 looks to confirm the results of Study 1 using a 2 × 2 between-subjects’ experimental design with a real brand and celebrity for the social media post. Co-creation, brand commitment and purchase intention are the dependent variables in both studies. Findings The studies reveal that a prompted co-creation post – which is a post explicitly asking for consumer feedback – from a brand can increase brand commitment and purchase intention from consumers. Also, the study reveals that, when compared to a celebrity-endorsed message, a branded message shows an increase in brand commitment and purchase intention. The results support the general notion of attribution theory. Research limitations/implications First, the study focused exclusively on millennial consumers. While this group has significant purchasing power, testing the effects of co-creation messages on a more generalizable sample is warranted. Next, the survey takes place in an online social media setting. With the power of social media and e-commerce, this channel is certainly important to study. Practical implications The results of this study bring the co-creation literature into a new area of research. Extending attachment theory and attribution theory into co-creation creates numerous opportunities to further grow the knowledge of the co-creation phenomena. The findings provide insight into the power that a prompted co-creation message can have on a consumer, either from a brand or celebrity endorser source. Practitioners can place a value on prompted and non-prompted co-creation messages originating with a brand. In addition, the research will give practitioners insight into how messages of co-creation are received by millennial consumers. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind for co-creation literature. No research to date examines the effect that a brand or celebrity-endorsed co-creation prompt has on the behavior of millennial consumers. Very little, if any, empirical research has been conducted on the co-creation of brand.

Consumer Brand Value Co-creation Typology

“…Recent research on co-creation and branding has focused on many different topics, including the implementation of a co-creation strategy (Ind et al, 2017), social marketing (Domegan, Collins, Stead, McHugh, & Hughes, 2013), collective action (Laamanen & Skålén, 2015), cultural differences (Voyer et al, 2017), customer co-creation value (Agrawal & Rahman, 2017;Merz et al, 2018), engagement (Black & Veloutsou, 2017;Conduit & Chen, 2017), actor roles (Biraghi & Gambetti, 2017;Kumar & Rajan, 2017;von Wallpach, Hemetsberger, & Espersen, 2017;Waseem, Biggemann, & Garry, 2017), brand communities (Kornum, Gyrd-Jones, Al Zagir, & Brandis, 2017;Roncha & Radclyffe-Thomas, 2016), value creation (Echeverri & Salomonson, 2017;Flores & Vasquez-Parraga, 2015;Grönroos & Voima, 2013;Merz et al, 2018;Skålén, Pace, & Cova, 2015), the outcome of co-creation (Alves, Fernandes, & Raposo, 2016;Cossío-Silva, Revilla-Camacho, Vega-Vázquez, & Palacios-Florencio, 2016;Kennedy, 2017;Navarro, Llinares, & Garzon, 2016) and the negative side of co-creation (Daunt & Harris, 2017;Greer, 2015;Plé, 2017;Smith, 2013). However, despite this impressive research attention and the resultant rich literature base, there is still not a clear picture of the different actors involved in co-creation, and the boundary conditions that make one type of co-creation more appropriate than another.…”

“…With few exceptions (Baldus et al, 2015; Harmeling et al, 2017; Kennedy, 2017; Kennedy & Guzmán, 2017), existing brand co-creation models or frameworks do not provide insight into possible different levels or types of co-creation, and they simply assume that co-creation happens or not. Baldus et al (2015) identify 11 different motivations for consumers to engage in online communities.…”

Firm Motivations for Shareholder Co-creation

“…Co-creation occurs when a company and the consumers come together and create value as a single unit (Guzmán, Paswan & Kennedy, 2018;Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). The co-creation of brands is activated through the interaction and social processes of multiple stakeholders (Gyrd-Jones & Kornum, 2013;Hatch & Schultz, 2010;Kennedy, 2017;Kennedy & Guzmán, 2017). Kennedy and Guzmán (2016) develop a model that outlines the motivations for the managerial side of co-creation.…”

Theory and practice of brand co-creation

“…The conceptual framework in Figure 4.1 summarises the relationships postulated in the three research hypotheses. Brand co-creation mostly takes place online (Fournier and Avery, 2011;Kennedy, 2017) and…”

“…Thus, it is students who mainly engage in brand co-creation and who are typically exposed to the results of co-creation activities. Also, people 'Brand play' versus 'brand attack': The subversion of brand meaning in non-collaborative co-creation by professional artists and consumer activists -80 -born between 1982 and 2000 now represent more than a quarter of the population in the USA (Kennedy, 2017), constituting crucial target groups globally for the brands chosen for the pilot study, pre-tests and main study. If any research findings are to be applicable to consumers of a specific product category or specific brands, then the research should sample those people (Calder and Tybout, 1999).…”