Journal article
Exploring the “black box” of customer co-creation processes
Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.31(3), pp.265-280
2017
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Purpose
Many firms use customer co-creation practices with the aim of benefiting from their customers’ knowledge, skills and resources. This paper aims to explore co-creation processes which involve users with different background characteristics and motivational drivers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study builds on an analysis of data from six teams in which users collaborated with in-house professionals for the development of new service concepts. Observations and open-ended questionnaires provided insights into the teams’ development processes. Independent experts rated the generated concepts. The data were analysed using cross-comparison matrices
Findings
The findings suggest that the co-creation process and outcomes can be influenced by numerous intra-team factors, including relationship and task conflicts, participation style, team bonding, team identity and cohesiveness and intra-team collaboration. Their occurrence and influence seem to be linked with a specific team composition. A conceptual co-creation process model and six propositions are used to describe the complex relationships between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Research that investigates user involvement in teams needs to consider the complexity of intra-team factors affecting the development process and outcomes. The findings are limited to a specific setting, design task and user sample. Future research should replicate this study in different sectors.
Practical implications
Key to customer co-creation is the systematic recruitment of users based on their background characteristics and motivational drivers. For instance, the involvement of users with very specific innovation-related benefit expectations can cause conflict, leading to narrowly focused outcomes. This, however, can be mitigated by the form of facilitation and roles adopted by in-house professionals. Understanding intra-team dynamics can allow the firm to assemble and facilitate customer co-creation so that generated outcomes can align with set innovation targets.
Originality/value
This paper provides original insights into the “black box” of the customer co-creation process and the complex relationship between team composition, intra-team factors and key innovation outcomes.
Details
- Title
- Exploring the “black box” of customer co-creation processes
- Creators
- Jakob Trischler - Griffith UniversitySimon J Pervan - Swinburne University of TechnologyDonald Robert Scott - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.31(3), pp.265-280
- Publisher
- Emerald Publishing Limited
- Identifiers
- 1828; 991012821740902368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts; School of Business and Tourism; Office of the Vice Chancellor
- Resource Type
- Journal article