Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Co-creation'

La creación conjunta de valores es un tema importante de interés en el dominio de marketing durante la última década. La creación conjunta a través de Internet ha recibido una atención especial en la literatura (O'Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010; Rathore, Ilavarasan, & Dwivedi, 2016). Si bien se han realizado numerosos estudios sobre lo que motiva a los clientes a participar en la creación conjunta de valores en las plataformas basadas en Internet (Fuller, 2006; Constantinides, Brünink y Lorenzo- Romero, 2015; Nambisan y Baron, 2009), hay una falta de investigación sobre cuáles son los elementos disuasorios que pueden impedir que los clientes contribuyan sus ideas en línea. En primer lugar, se realizó una investigación cualitativa basada en veinte entrevistas en profundidad con clientes y veinte entrevistas en profundidad con especialistas en marketing de diferentes empresas para definir los elementos disuasivos desde el punto de vista de los clientes y las empresas, como base para el futuro. Encuesta para ser entregada a los clientes. Los resultados muestran que aunque hay una repetición de los factores limitantes mencionados indicados por los dos grupos de los entrevistados, la clasificación de las barreras es distintiva. En segundo lugar, al día no hay ningún estudio que pueda medir empíricamente el efecto que tienen los elementos disuasorios sobre la actitud de los usuarios hacia la co-creación en línea. Por lo tanto, el segundo estudio apunta no solo a llenar la brecha bibliográfica mencionada, sino también a proporcionar un valor adicional a la academia y a los profesionales al determinar el efecto del contexto, la edad, el género y el nivel de educación que realiza el análisis multigrupo. El enfoque PLS-SEM se aplica para responder las preguntas de investigación. Finalmente, el tercer estudio se basa en los antecedentes teóricos del capítulo anterior y tiene como objetivo ampliar las implicaciones para los profesionales y el mundo académico al no solo agregar los efectos moderadores del riesgo percibido de uso, la reputación de la marca y el efecto de mediación de la confianza de la marca; pero también probando el modelo avanzado que realiza análisis multigrupo usando contexto y experiencia previa en co-creación como las variables de control. Sobre la base de los hallazgos de la investigación, la principal contribución teórica de la tesis es la definición y el análisis de los elementos disuasorios para crear en un entorno en línea. Desde la perspectiva de las implicaciones de gestión, la tesis proporciona soluciones prácticas de marketing para el desarrollo de estrategias de creación conjunta en línea teniendo en cuenta la edad, el género, el nivel educativo y la experiencia previa de los usuarios específicos con la creación conjunta. Palabras clave: co-creación, Internet, disuasivos, motivadores, reputación de la marca, confianza de la marca, riesgo percibido de uso, experiencia previa, PLS-SEM.
Value co-creation is an important topic of interest in marketing domain for the last decade. Co-creation via the Internet has received a particular attention in the literature (O'Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010; Rathore, Ilavarasan, & Dwivedi, 2016). Although there have been substantive number of studies of what motivates customers to participate in value co-creation in the Internet-based platforms (Fuller, 2006; Constantinides, Brünink, & Lorenzo-Romero, 2015; Nambisan & Baron, 2009), there is a lack of research of what the deterrents are that may prevent customers from contributing their ideas on-line. First, the qualitative research based on twenty in-depth interviews with customers and twenty in-depth interviews with marketing specialists from different companies was undertaken in order to define the deterrents from the customers’ and companies’ point of view, as a basis for future survey to be delivered to the customers. The results show that although there is a repetition of the mentioned constraining factors indicated by the both groups of the interviewees, the ranking of the barriers is distinctive. Second, up-to-date there is no study that would empirically measure the effect that the deterrents have on the users’ attitude towards co-creation online. Therefore, the second study is aimed not only to fill up the mentioned literature gap, but also provide additional value to the academia and practitioners by determining the effect of the context, age, gender, and education level performing multigroup analysis. PLS-SEM approach is applied in order to answer the research questions. Finally, the third study is built on the theoretical background of the previous chapter and is aimed to extend the implications for the practitioners and academia by not only adding moderating effects of perceived risk of use, brand reputation, and mediation effect of brand trust; but also by testing the advanced model performing multigroup analysis using context and previous experience in co-creation as the control variables. Based on the research findings, the thesis’s main theoretical contribution is the definition and analysis of the deterrents to co-create in an online environment. From a managerial implications perspective, the thesis provides practical marketing solutions for the development of co-creation strategies online considering targeted users’ age, gender, educational level, and previous experience with co-creation.

The creation of value is considered the core purpose and central process of economic exchange. Value creation is now conceptualized as shared by both producers and customers, and value is seen as fundamentally derived and determined in use, the integration and application of resources in a specific context, rather than in exchange, embedded in products and manifested as price. The field of research is abundant with publications but these do not fully further the understanding of value creation and co-creation in a way that is meaningful for theoretical development and decision making in business and marketing practise. Without a thorough understanding of the factors characterising value co-creation, the nature as well as content and locus of co-creation cannot be identified. In that case value co-creation easily becomes a concept without substance.   Until now, individual publications on co-creation have focused on few or different aspects, have emphasized the process from either the customer’s or from  the firm’s vantage point, have different theoretical approaches and have ignored the complexity in interactions between actors. The purpose of this essay is to analyse how five fundamental aspects of co-creation of customer value are perceived in contemporary marketing literature.   Discussing the different views on co-creation, this essay concludes that though there are evident points of agreement, finding one generally valid doctrine of predestination or value co-creation is improbable. Although marketing practitioners would benefit from a precise definition one would probably benefit more by accepting that co-creation is a dynamic process affected by many factors, and that one correct and universal view of the process therefor is impossible.

Tjänstekonsumtionen har numera gått om produktkonsumtionen och svarar därför nu för en större del av Sveriges BNP. Om tjänstekonsumtionen ökar bör rimligtvis även antalet tjänsteföretag öka och ett sätt för dessa företag att öka sin konkurrenskraft är att ändra kundens roll i processen. I branscher som definieras av att varje kund och varje uppdrag ser olika ut (om än med vissa återkommande inslag) är det svårt att som företag använda sig av standardisering och utformning av styrdokument för kvalitetssäkring. Det är därför av stor vikt att företagen vet hur kunden upplever samarbetet, då det är kunden som värderar kvaliteten på en tjänst. Vår problemformulering lyder således Hur kan små kompetensbaserade företag arbeta med co-creation i en kompetensstyrd bransch för att förbättra kundens upplevelse av samarbetet? Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka om det finns några skillnader och likheter i upplevelsen av samarbetet mellan tjänsteleverantören och kunden där fokus ligger på själva processen mellan företag och kund. Om vi upptäcker några sådana skillnader vill vi ge förslag på hur dessa kan överbryggas genom användandet av co-creation för att förbättra kundens upplevelse av samarbetet.  Som resultat av den valda problemformuleringen genomfördes studien tillsammans med ett studieobjekt. Studien skedde i två delar för att komma åt både de anställdas och kundernas del i processen. Vi valde det hermeneutiska perspektivet med dess fokus på tolkningar och människans subjektiva bild av verkligheten som paradigm (Johansson Lindfors, 1993, s. 41-42, 44). Angreppssättet för uppsatsen var abduktivt, som innebär en växelverkan mellan teori och empiri. En kvalitativ datainsamlings- och analysmetod användes för att försöka besvara problemformuleringen där det empiriska materialet kodades med hjälp av Grundad teori. Vår teoretiska referensram är grundad på teorier som är kopplade till ämnet co-creation. Andra inslag är sådant som framkommit under de två intervjuomgångarna eftersom vi kunnat återgå till teorin efter datainsamlingen på grund av det abduktiva angreppssättet. Våra slutsatser av studien är att begreppen kvalitet och värde är subjektiva och att kvalitetssäkring inte kan ske på ett standardiserat sätt inom undersökt område. Vi ser dock några gemensamma nämnare mellan studieobjektet och dess kunder och lämnar slutligen rekommendationer till hur det fortsätta arbetet med kunden bör utvecklas. För att lyckas utveckla ett samarbete med hjälp av co-creation krävs en bra dialog både internt och externt.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe how value propositions can be seen as an operant resource in a wireless environment, for service providers’ opportunity to co-create value with their customers. To see how a service provider offer service in a wireless environment interviews have been conducted at Westra Wermlands Sparbank with the focus on service offered through a smartphone application. The findings in the empirical study was that the service provider does not have the opportunity to actively instruct its customers in a wireless environment since the majority of the customers get the smartphone application on their own without processing from the service provider. What the service provider therefore can do is to integrate its instructions into the smartphone application so it is easy to understand and to show the customers what possibilities they have when using it. Thereby the offered value proposition can be seen as an operant resource in a wireless environment. Moreover, the service provider gets the opportunity to co-create value with its customers.

Endkunden legen bei ihren Kaufentscheidungen immer mehr Wert auf Individualität. Als Reaktion darauf, haben Unternehmen das Potential der Co-Creation erkannt. Dies beschreibt die Zusammenstellung eines komplexen Produktes durch den Kunden selbst. Auch Campeleon nutzt Co-Creation im Rahmen der Produktentwicklung. Das Start Up entwickelt in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Pilotkunden modulare Ausstattungsmodule für Reisemobile. Durch die intensive Interaktion mit dem Kunden konnten Anforderungen an die Produkte identifiziert werden, die ansonsten unentdeckt geblieben wären. So sind erste modulare Ausstattungsmodule entstanden, die es ermöglichen, den knappen Platz im Innenraum von Reisemobilen durch Mehrfachnutzung der Flächen zu maximieren. Neben einer innovativen Küchenlösung ist so auch ein modulares Camper-Bad entstanden. Gleichzeitig muss sich Campeleon immer wieder die Frage stellen, in welchem Maße Co-Creation sinnvoll genutzt werden kann und wann sie für den Kunden überfordernd wirkt. Daraus ist eine Checkliste entstanden, die Kunden dabei behilflich sein soll, ihre Gedanken zum Reisemobil-Ausbau zu ordnen. Dieser Artikel beleuchtet zum einen Vorteile und Herausforderungen von Co-Creation. Zum anderen wird die Entstehung eines Prozesses zur Umsetzung anhand eines Anwendungsbeispiels veranschaulicht.

In today's business, organizations are working with external stakeholders to develop a better product. Customers are one such stakeholder with whom organizations collaborate to develop a product fulfilling their needs. This process of Co-Creation facilitates organizations to get closer to their customers. Also in the study made in the year 2016 for the 19th annual global CEO survey, 90% of the CEOs have claimed Customers to be their main priorities. Further in the literature has also debated the process of customer co-creation being complex and studies have been made to understand the Ups and Downs of the process. Problem Background: Based on the opportunity in the field of Co-Creation growing rapidly and literature arguing on both Success and failure of the process, we in our thesis aim to address the gap of identifying the factors that influence the Customer Co-Creation Process. The Purpose of our thesis was to Identify the Factors for Organizations that Influence the process and suggest to imply those factors during the process of Co-Creation for a better result.  To answer our research question we chose a qualitative approach by interviewing a total of 5 members from different organizations and different businesses in a semi-structured interview format. We chose to do research from both Customer and Organizational perspective, we formed 2 cases out of the 4 interviews and one as an expert in the field of New Product Development. The main findings of our research shows 6 Main Influencing Factors and 12 Sub Factors within 6 main factors that enrich the process of co-creation. The factors are Communication (Feedback & Highlighting the need to Customer), Management (Environment, Relationship Management, Flexibility /Exploratory, Leadership, Rewards/Incentives, Selection of Customer), Transparency, Commitment & Trust (Secrecy Concern, Sharing of IP), Consistency, Training (Employee and Customer). Our research shows the factors on the application during the co-creation process can influence the process to a better output. We have suggested the organizations in our Organizational Implications on how these factors can influence the process to a better output. Thus, answering our research question.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of social marketing within a collaboration between non-profit organisations (NPOs) and business organisations as well as whether this collaboration facilitates the process of social marketing for the NPOs. For this purpose, Austin and Seitanidi´s (2012a, 2012b, 2014) Collaborative Value Creation (CVC) framework was applied to social marketing as value outcome by combining it with Andreasen and Kotler´s (2003) model of the social marketing process in NPOs. Method: A qualitative study was conducted based on secondary and primary data. Hereby, primary data was gathered from a total of seven NPOs and twelve respondents across Sweden by the use of face-to-face and phone interviews. Result & Conclusions: Two main findings were identified in this study. Firstly, within the process of social marketing in a corporate-NPO collaboration the NPOs predominantly plan and design the campaigns independently. Hereby, it is shown that the NPO´s organisational model of operation influences the collaboration structure. Secondly, it is demonstrated that the corporate-NPO collaboration facilitates the NPOs social marketing process. Suggestions for future research: Further investigations of NPOs could be undertaken by distinguishing between their organisational model and area of operation in order to complement the presented theoretical model of the social marketing process in the corporate-NPO collaboration. Additionally, the perspective of business organisations could be considered. Contribution of the thesis: The present study contributes to literature by providing a theoretical model based of the social marketing process in the corporate-NPO collaboration. It demonstrates that this collaboration facilitates the social marketing process of the NPOs.

Co-creation studies have focused on customer-provider value creation in service system. However, the current literature does not consider service co-creation in a multi-actor environment in which behavioural dynamic of individuals plays a role. We propose a model of service co-creation behaviour (SCB) that represents why actors' collaborate in service co-creation. We found seven themes including Platform Capabilities, Relational Capital and Actor Competencies as the key environmental stimuli, and which influence the two actor value perceptions of Purposive value and Network value, which all combine to lead actors to collaborative and citizenship behaviours. The findings provide important implications to theory by extending the co-creation behaviour to actor-to-actor service co-creation context. Practitioners can apply the insights regarding actors' SCB to improve collaborations, hinder destructive behaviours and enrich creative forces to increase value formation.

This study intended to advance the understanding of brand and value co-creation in sport management. A single exploratory case study of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, the CFL expansion franchise launching in 2014, was conducted. The purpose of the research was to unveil the practices that could lead to brand and value co-creation in the relationships between the Ottawa REDBLACKS and their stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 20 participants from the focal organization’s network of stakeholders. The sample was built through a purposeful and snowball sampling method that added to stakeholders identified from the literature. Archival data of media publications, organizational online content, and radio podcasts were also gathered in order to complement the data from the interviews. The deductive and inductive data analysis highlighted five main practices that could lead to brand or value co-creation in the stakeholder-firm relationship performance in a unique sport context: establishing relationships, supporting public relations, sharing resources, enhancing the experience, and driving brand image. The findings explained that joint actions between stakeholders and the REDBLACKS can lead to increases in brand equity and value creation. In the end, the study suggested that future research should investigate the threat of co-destruction.

Startups face a wide range of opportunities and challenges when it comes to building their brand value and by extension brand image, due to possessing both limited financial and human resources. Hence, developing a distinct and enduring brand is a critical competitive imperative for them. Evidence exists to suggest that co-creating brand value is an effective means of achieving this. This paper looks at how startups can co-create brand value, through the medium of social networks, that may lead to a favorable brand image. This thesis study adopts interpretivism as its main research philosophy. The thesis is based on inductive reasoning and qualitative research methods through multiple case study research, with a combined research design of explorative and descriptive. The study uses semi-structured interviews and a literature review to collect primary and secondary data. This study suggests that co-creation is a creative and innovative strategy. It is used by companies to co-create brand value through social networks, where factors such as trust, accessibility, flexibility, and commitment, play a substantial role for engagement and brand image building through co-creation.

Tourism and Sport
Ph.D.
The primary purpose of this study is two-fold. First, this study proposes a model to explain the factors predicting consumers' intention to co-create based on the theory of planned behavior. More specifically, this study investigates how perceived benefits, perceived costs, subjective norms, and ability to co-create influence consumers' behavioral intentions toward tourism co-creation. Second, this study seeks to examine differences in the relationships among different constructs in the models in accordance with different contextual settings. To gain a richer understanding of consumers' co-creation behaviors, the study examines the impacts of different co-creation settings as moderating effects among the model's constructs. By using 2 X 2 factorial between-subjects design, two co-creation scale categories (radical and incremental) are matched with two co-creation intensity categories (high involvement and low involvement). The results of this study suggest that proposed antecedent constructs (perceived benefits, perceived costs, subjective norms, and abilities to co-create) are strong indicators to predict consumers' intention to co-create. The study also finds that different co-creation settings have strong moderating effects on the relationships among constructs in the co-creation intention model. The insights from the study results are discussed and important practical implications and subjects for further future research are presented.
Temple University--Theses

In the contemporary business environment, brand management forms a major focus in successful firms. However, modern brand management is characterised by the decentralisation of control of the brand. In this environment, the brand is now influenced by a range of stakeholders. In particular, the active customer increasingly plays an instrumental role in brand performance. Thus, the customer now co-creates the brand. While the customer has assumed control, understanding of the customer contribution is in its infancy. Service-dominant logic continues to be refined (Grönroos, 2008, 2011; Grönroos & Voima, 2013; Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008, 2016; Vargo, Maglio, & Akaka, 2008), offering a high (macro) level view of the phenomenon. Managerial frameworks have emerged (Gyrd-Jones & Kornum, 2013; Hatch & Schultz, 2010; Payne, Storbacka, & Frow, 2008; Payne, Storbacka, Frow, & Knox, 2009), providing a new level of detail at a less abstract (meso) level and enabling the process of co-creation to be examined. Yet, understanding of co-creation at an individual (micro) level remains underexplored. Specifically, understanding the impact of co-creation upon the co-creator (i.e., the customer), has not been addressed.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Griffith Business School
Full Text

2012 - 2013
Studies until now revealed the common acceptation about the arising importance of co-creation for the satisfaction of the market and the consequent success of the company. Despite that, there is the general recognition that theory and practice about co-creation are still at an initial phase, and not all the potentials of this process have been explored. This is true especially in the tourism industry. Starting from these considerations, this research aims to elaborate and to test a model useful to contribute to the relevant issue of designing and managing the role of tourists as experiences co-creators in Tourism Industry. In particular, the study analyzes the link between the role of the tourists as experience co-creators and their satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness. According to the post-positivist paradigm here adopted, the study drew from a deep literature analysis the block of theoretical knowledge useful to define the hypotheses tested through a survey conducted on tourists of Napoli. The direct interaction of tourists with tourist operators, the active participation of tourists during the trip experience, the sharing of tourist experience with others, the degree of experience co-creation, the tourists satisfaction for the experience lived, the tourists level of expenditure during the trip, and the tourists happiness were measured using different scales adapted from previous researches which are discussed in the literature review. The empirical analysis starts with the identification of the respondents’ profile, with socio-demographical and behavioural aspects. After that, statistical analysis with exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis is conducted in order to understand the relationships among the constructs identified. Findings show significant and positive relationships between direct interaction and degree of co-creation, active participation and degree of co-creation, sharing of experience and degree of co-creation, and between degree of co-creation and tourists’ satisfaction, level of expenditure and happiness. Furthermore, the results revealed not hypothesized relationships between direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience. This study aims at contributing to the growing body of knowledge about the concept of co-creation, focusing on the experience co-creation in tourism industry, highlighting the importance of experience co-creation in influencing the tourist satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness, and posing the attention on the direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience as main influencers of the experience co-creation degree. [edited by author]
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WHAT OPTIMIZES INNOVATION IN OUTSOURCING, CONSIDERING THE OUTSOURCING PARADOX? How precise must be the instructions form company A to company B for an optimal result? OUTSOURCING PARADOX - A company develops the "perfect" set of tasks for their outsource manufacturer - with detailed requirements, frequencies and measures. However, micromanaging the process with precise instructions does not optimize the outcome. VALUE CO-CREATION LITERATURE - Service Dominant Logic - Optimization of innovation occurs when value is co-created between agent A and agent B, after aligning norms and institutions. Applying SDL and institutions (Vargo, Lusch, 2016) to the outsourcing process between two agents, will allow the paradox to transcend. The company's “perfect system” fails as it is not one designed by the provider of the service. By introducing a different logic to look at innovation through outsourcing managers are able to re-frame the problem in a way that shows the complementarity of the two sets of tensions and extremes into an iterative value co-creation process, after aligning norms and institutions.

Background: In the past, the majority of products were sold in the retail industry through physical stores, making it possible for customers to interact and be personal with the retailers. The development of technology has made retailers move their operations to an online environment.    Problem: The problem of this paper is how companies that operate in an online environment can create relationships with their customers in the context of value creation. There exists limited research on how online retailers can create value creation and co-creation through e-commerce and m-commerce.   Purpose: This research aims to investigate what actions that are influencing value creation and value co-creation between firm and customer in the online sector of e-commerce and m-commerce. The thesis will examine if there exists a difference between e-commerce and m-commerce in terms of value creation and co-creation.    Method: This thesis is based on a qualitative research approach, the empirical findings were collected through an interview with the CEO of Please the Swede (PTS), followed up with six semi-structured interviews with the company's customers.   Results: It is evident that PTS carries out two different value-creating actions that enable the company to co-create value with its customers in e-commerce and m-commerce. Customer service and social media were identified as the two services that co-create value. It was also concluded that it did not exist any differences in terms of how value co-creation was created through PTS e-commerce and m-commerce.

The present doctoral research addresses value co-creation processes in a timely context, i.e., circular entrepreneurship, and it relies on a mixed-methods research design including an exploratory qualitative study and a subsequent quantitative one. The thesis is composed of three interrelated chapters, each of which constitutes a paper with its structure. The entire work is rooted in the value co-creation theory, which has been developed in service marketing literature with the seminal work by Vargo and Lusch (2004) and it has influenced many research streams in other disciplines such as strategic management. The theory evolved over time, and it has been further revised and improved in service marketing by the authors themselves. However, the concept of “value co-creation” still appears blurry and it is one of the most elusively used concepts in Management. the first chapter of this thesis proposes a review about value co-creation based on the problematization approach, with the aim to improve the value co-creation theory and at offering a better conceptualization of value co-creation encompassing diverse research fields in Management. The second chapter consists in an empirical work aimed at investigating value co-creation within dyads of actors through an ecosystem perspective. More precisely, this paper contributes to the entrepreneurship literature as for the empirical analysis of the mechanisms through which circular small and medium-sized enterprises co-create value with their key actors. The unit of analysis is represented by the dyadic co-creation processes including forms, mechanisms, and process output. This chapter represents the exploratory and qualitative step of a mixed-method study, and its final output consists of an empirical model of value co-creation and in a set of research propositions. The third chapter departs from the empirical model developed in the second chapter, and it aims to verify whether the emerged findings are generalizable, by testing the formulated series of hypotheses concerning the relationships among the variables of the theoretical model. To this end, we employed data collected through a survey administered to a representative sample of 80 European-born circular firms, and we tested the relationships among the variables by adopting the PLS-SEM technique. This dissertation presents a twofold contribution, both theoretical and managerial. From the theoretical perspective, we advance the co-creation theory by offering assumptions with the potential to open on new ways of thinking about co-creation in Management. We also contribute to the growing literature about circular entrepreneurship. From the managerial perspective, this dissertation aims at making circular entrepreneurship and managers reflect upon the value creation stemming from the establishment of value co-creation processes with key actors within and for the ecosystem. Involving actors in a circular business through co-creation processes can represent the path to transition towards the circular economy paradigm.

Enligt Service-dominant logic perspektivet delges en konsument ett värdeerbjudande som denne sedan agerar på. Beroende på interaktionsutfall påverkas kundnöjdheten. Kopplingen mellan interaktionsutfallen no-creation och co-destruction samt deras påverkan på kundnöjdheten är outforskad. Studien syftar till att undersöka individers upplevda kundnöjdhet av värdeerbjudanden som presenteras via direkta- samt indirekta digitala marknadsföringsaktiviteter. För studien konstruerades en modell där värdeerbjudanden via direkta (mejl) och indirekta (Facebook) digitala marknadsföringskanaler studerades. Detta för att skapa förståelse kring vilket interaktionsutfall; co-creation, no-creation eller co-destruction värdeerbjudandet resulterade i baserat på konsumenternas upplevelse samt hur kundnöjdheten påverkades. Föreliggande studie använde sig av en kvalitativ forskningsansats där tolv semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes. Resultatet visar att vid direkta digitala marknadsföringsaktiviteter (mejl) var en lägre frekvens av värdeerbjudanden och mer information i mejlutskicken två faktorer som resulterade i co-creation med en ökad kundnöjdhet som följd. Utfallet no-creation uppkom om konsumenten hade en relation med värdeleverantören men saknade intresse vid tillfället för värdeerbjudandet, vilket resulterade i en oförändrad kundnöjdhet. Om frekvensen av värdeerbjudanden var för hög eller om värdeerbjudandena var icke-personliga uppkom utfallet co-destruction, vilket resulterade i en minskad kundnöjdhet. Vid indirekta digitala marknadsföringsaktiviteter (Facebook) visar resultatet att transparens från företagens sida gentemot konsumenten och anpassningen av värdeerbjudandet gentemot konsumentens preferenser var två faktorer som ledde till co-creation, med ökad kundnöjdhet som följd. Flertalet respondenter upplevde att de fick förväntade- eller icke intresseväckande värdeerbjudanden, vilka resulterade i no-creation, med en oförändrad kundnöjdhet som följd. Även vid indirekt digital marknadsföring ledde hög frekvens till co-destruction. Vilket även värdeerbjudanden som upplevdes göra personintrång gjorde. Dessa resulterade i minskad kundnöjdhet. Föreliggande studie styrker existerande forsknings slutsats; att co-creation leder till ökad kundnöjdhet. Vidare utökas förståelsen med en modell konstruerad av författarna för att tydliggöra det faktum att no-creation leder till en oförändrad kundnöjdhet och att co-destruction leder till en minskad kundnöjdhet. Därutöver visar studien vilka faktorer som påverkar konsumentens interaktionsutfall.
According to the Service-dominant logic perspective, a consumer is served a value proposition on which he or she then acts. Depending on the interaction outcome, customer satisfaction is affected. However, the link between the interaction outcomes no-creation and co-destruction and its impact on customer satisfaction is yet unexplored. This study aims to examine individuals' perceived customer satisfaction of value propositions that are presented via direct and indirect digital marketing activities. A model was constructed by the authors in which value propositions via direct (email) and indirect (Facebook) digital marketing channels were examined. To create an understanding of which interaction outcome (co-creation, no-creation, and co-destruction) different value propositions resulted in, based on consumers' experience and how this affected customer satisfaction. The study used a qualitative approach in which twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted.The results indicate that within indirect digital marketing activities (e-mail), a lower frequency of value propositions containing more information were factors that resulted in co-creation with increased customer satisfaction as a result. No-creation occurred if the consumer had a relationship with the value provider but lacked interest at the time of the value proposition, which resulted in unchanged customer satisfaction. If the frequency of value propositions was too high or the value propositions were non-personal, co-destruction occurred, which resulted in a reduction in customer satisfaction.In indirect digital marketing activities (Facebook), the results show that transparency from the company's side towards the consumer and the level of adaption of the value proposition towards the consumer's preferences led to co-creation, with increased customer satisfaction. No-creation occurred when the customers had received expected or uninteresting value propositions, resulting in unchanged customer satisfaction. Value propositions that had a high frequency or that were perceived to make personal infringement were factors that led to co-destruction, which resulted in reduced customer satisfaction.The present study supports existing research's results, that co-creation leads to increased customer satisfaction. The understanding is expanded with a model constructed by the authors which clarifies that no-creation leads to unchanged customer satisfaction and that co-destruction leads to reduced customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the study also examines which factors that affect the customer’s interaction outcome.

The process of value creation is rapidly shifting from a product- and firm-centric view to personalized consumer experience today. Informed, networked, empowered and active consumers are increasingly co-creating value with the firm. The interaction between the firm and the consumer as well as the experience factor plays an increasingly important role in determining the success of a company’s offering. In this study, a special type of co-creating experience is investigated - “omstartspex” - where the audience is interacting with actors during the play. Drawing from results of three focus group interviews, this study attempts to understand the effect of co-creation on customer experience and its three dimensions - emotional, cognitive and relational. The co-creation process, demanding for both firm and consumers, raises important questions for managers in terms of operational efficiency and control over product quality, etc. Apart from it, the empirical results show that co-creation indeed has positive effect on customer experience. It creates unique customer experiences, strengthens the relationship between consumer (audience) and firm (actors). This, in turn, leads to an increasing level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In today’s marketplace, competitions among companies have increased due to the expanding of the global market. More than ever it has become extremely important to meet customers’ needs and demands in order to stay competitive on the increasing market competition. Customers nowadays want to be a part of the co-creation process, have influence and be involved in the services and products the company offers. However this high urge to get involved in the co-creation process does not stop with customers only. Also internally different stakeholders want to influence the company. Suppliers and employees are becoming more open toward co-creation within the company and want to take their involvement to the next level. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding for the process of co-creation from the company’s point of view and the customers’ point of view as well as the leadership archetype and traits that would work best in the complex processes of co-creation. The focus is to generate an understanding of the elements to succeed in co-creation internally (with stakeholders) as well as externally (with other companies). In order to understand which elements of the successful co-creation are, case studies were conducted. Complementary to this, two interviews were held in order to show the reality of cocreation process, giving deep insight and knowledge in the subject. From the thesis research we found out that to be able to implement co-creation both internally and externally it is of great importance to create trust, mutual benefits, commitment, knowledge about partner and mutual respect among the partners involved. Moreover it is also important to mention that all the parts involved needs to be open towards sharing knowledge and information with each other in order to help facilitate the relationship. Keywords: Co-creation, Leadership, Collaboration, Alliance, Customer Relationship Management, Value creation, Supplier Relationship Management

The remote work environment poses many challenges, especially for collaboration and co-creation. Digital tools are available but they lack important properties of the physical meeting. This project applies emerging technologies in an attempt to enable a more suitable interface for creative collaboration. The goal is to produce an innovative solution in the form of a conceptual design based on user experience research. It follows the design process from brief to resulting conclusions and concept. The process is inspired by the learnings from Bootcamp Bootleg in combination with mentorship and guidance of experienced active designers from Shift Design, now part of Yellon.
Att arbeta från distans innebär många utmaningar, särskilt för samarbete och samskapande. Digitala verktyg finns tillgängliga men de saknar viktiga egenskaper hos det fysiska mötet. Detta projekt tillämpar ny teknik i ett försök att möjliggöra ett lämpligare gränssnitt för kreativt samarbete. Målet är att ta fram en innovativ lösning i form av en konceptuell design baserad på användarupplevelseforskning. Arbetet följer designprocessen från uppdragsbeskrivning till resulterande slutsatser och koncept. Processen är inspirerad av lärdomarna från Bootcamp Bootleg i kombination med mentorskap och vägledning av erfarna aktiva designers från Shift Design, nu en del av Yellon.

Die COVID-19-Pandemie forderte 2020 die Wirtschaftswelt heraus und provozierte in vielen Unternehmen die Dezentralisierung und Digitalisierung der Denkarbeit. Co-Creation-Workshops mussten wirkungsvoll und schnell in Online-Formate übertragen werden. Für die Produktentwicklung und -innovation der Sartorius AG bedeutete dies die Entwicklung einer digitalen Plattform: Bestehende Inhalte und Prozesse wurden überarbeitet, verbessert, erweitert und in einer digitalen Infrastruktur zusammengeführt. Ausgehend von der Plattform erhalten Mitarbeiter:innen Zugang zu einem Methodenpool, Workshop-Vorlagen und Schulungsmaterialien. So können Teams weltweit produktiv zusammenarbeiten. Die digitale Plattform ist ganzheitlich und nachhaltig konzipiert und wird durch ein analoges Method Playbook und agile Schulungen, sowie eine Webcast-Serie ergänzt, in der weiterführende Informationen on-demand abgerufen werden können. Mit der Plattform wird die unternehmensweite Innovationskultur in Zeiten der Pandemie nicht nur erhalten, sondern sogar proaktiv ausgebaut und zusätzlich werden Zeit und Ressourcen gespart.

Drawing from ongoing revitalization initiatives in Richmond, Virginia, this adaptive reuse project creates a structured dialogue between public and private expression to create a more immersive gallery experience for viewer and practitioner. The gallery experience is twofold; traditional object-based display and nontraditional process-based display. Preservation of the historic fabric of the existing Handcraft building at 1501 Roseneath is integrated with the transformative potential of introducing voyeuristic opportunities in creating a community arts center. Notions of voyeurism will center around ideas of visual connection and physical separation. This project questions if tactics of voyeurism, which inherently create physical barriers, can facilitate interaction and encourage co-creation in a creative setting. Structured moments of intimacy and control are accomplished through presented and found views of movement, object, and process. These moments of intimacy and control create a conceptual reciprocity which guides the design of this project. Ultimately, the redesign creates a dialogue between the process of making and the final product/object by facilitating interaction between the viewer and practitioner through different points of the creative process. The project moves away from exploiting the site’s formal, historical, and contextual components and encourages the audience member to engage with the maker through a corporeal, experiential encounter. The environment becomes a catalyst for cross-disciplinary creativity on an individual, group, and community level. The development of spaces that engage the creative mind and foster collaborative growth will serve the Richmond arts community and can act as an icon for successful urban transformation.

This thesis analyzes co-creation, a modern trend in marketing, and guides companies how to use co-creation to increase efficiency of their marketing practices. Co-creation is placed in the framework of digitalization, which is current megatrend in marketing influencing the traditional marketing methods. After deep analysis of current trends in marketing with focus on digitalization, the thesis emphases co-creation, describes the process of co-creation and applies it to an example of co-creation project of the brand Fa. It presents that co-creation project needs to be well planned and well executed as it can otherwise lead into brand dilution or the results would be different from company's objectives. In the end of the thesis, recommendations are deduced based on the concluded survey showing the further steps in Fa co-creation project as well as co-creation in general.

This thesis examined how and why social entrepreneurs in Australia use online communities for value co-creation. It specifically investigated social entrepreneurs' motivations to participate in online communities, the barriers that might inhibit them from participating in online communities, and the particular abilities that they need to have in order to participate in online communities. Moreover, this study explored value co-creation activities that social entrepreneurs perform in online communities to create value together for all parties involved and the positive outcomes for them as the result of their participation in online communities.

Customer perceived value is concerned with the experiences of consumers when using a service and is often referred to in the context of service provision or on the basis of service quality (Auh, et al., 2007; Chang, 2008; Jackson, 2007; Laukkanen, 2007; Padgett & Mulvey, 2007; Shamdasani, Mukherjee & Malhotra, 2008). Understanding customer perceived value has benefits for social marketing and allows scholars and practitioners alike to identify why consumers engage in positive social behaviours through the use of services. Understanding consumers’ use of wellness services in particular is important, because the use of wellness services demonstrates the fulfilment of social marketing aims; performing pro-active, positive social behaviours that are of benefit to the individual and to society (Andreasen, 1994). As consumers typically act out of self-interest (Rothschild, 1999), this research posits that a value proposition must be made to consumers in order to encourage behavioural change. Thus, this research seeks to identify how value is created for consumers of wellness services in social marketing. This results in the overall research question of this research: How is value created in social marketing wellness services? A traditional method towards understanding value has been the adoption of an economic approach, which considers the utility gained and where value is a direct outcome of a cost-benefit analysis (Payne & Holt, 1999). However, there has since been a shift towards the adoption of an experiential approach in understanding value. This experiential approach considers the consumption experience of the consumer which extends beyond the service exchange and includes pre- and post-consumption stages (Russell-Bennett, Previte & Zainuddin, 2009). As such, this research uses an experiential approach to identify the value that exists in social marketing wellness services. Four dimensions of value have been commonly conceptualised and identified in the commercial marketing literature; functional, emotional, social, and altruistic value (Holbrook, 1994; Sheth, Newman & Gross, 1991; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). It is not known if these value dimensions also exist in social marketing. In addition, sources of value said to influence value dimensions have been conceptualised in the literature. Sources of value such as information, interaction, environment, service, customer co-creation, and social mandate have been conceptually identified both in the commercial and social marketing literature (Russell-Bennet, Previte & Zainuddin, 2009; Smith & Colgate, 2007). However, it is not clear which sources of value contribute to the creation of value for users of wellness services. Thus, this research seeks to explore these relationships. This research was conducted using a wellness service context, specifically breast cancer screening services. The primary target consumer of these services is women aged 50 to 69 years old (inclusive) who have never been diagnosed with breast cancer. It is recommended that women in this target group have a breast screen every 2 years in order to achieve the most effective medical outcomes from screening. A two-study mixed method approach was utilised. Study 1 was a qualitative exploratory study that analysed individual-depth interviews with 25 information-rich respondents. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo 8 software. The qualitative results provided evidence of the existence of the four value dimensions in social marketing. The results also allowed for the development of a typology of experiential value by synthesising current understanding of the value dimensions, with the activity aspects of experiential value identified by Holbrook (1994) and Mathwick, Malhotra and Rigdon (2001). The qualitative results also provided evidence for the existence of sources of value in social marketing, namely information, interaction, environment and consumer participation. In particular, a categorisation of sources of value was developed as a result of the findings from Study 1, which identify organisational, consumer, and third party sources of value. A proposed model of value co-creation and a set of hypotheses were developed based on the results of Study 1 for further testing in Study 2. Study 2 was a large-scale quantitative confirmatory study that sought to test the proposed model of value co-creation and the hypotheses developed. An online-survey was administered Australia-wide to women in the target audience. A response rate of 20.1% was achieved, resulting in a final sample of 797 useable responses after removing ineligible respondents. Reliability and validity analyses were conducted on the data, followed by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in PASW18, followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in AMOS18. Following the preliminary analyses, the data was subject to Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in AMOS18 to test the path relationships hypothesised in the proposed model of value creation. The SEM output revealed that all hypotheses were supported, with the exception of one relationship which was non-significant. In addition, post hoc tests revealed seven further significant non-hypothesised relationships in the model. The quantitative results show that organisational sources of value as well as consumer participation sources of value influence both functional and emotional dimensions of value. The experience of both functional and emotional value in wellness services leads to satisfaction with the experience, followed by behavioural intentions to perform the behaviour and use the service again. One of the significant non-hypothesised relationships revealed that emotional value leads to functional value in wellness services, providing further empirical evidence that emotional value features more prominently than functional value for users of wellness services. This research offers several contributions to theory and practice. Theoretically, this research addresses a gap in the literature by using social marketing theory to provide an alternative method of understanding individual behaviour in a domain that has been predominantly investigated in public health. This research also clarifies the concept of value and offers empirical evidence to show that value is a multi-dimensional construct with separate and distinct dimensions. Empirical evidence for a typology of experiential value, as well as a categorisation of sources of value is also provided. In its practical contributions, this research identifies a framework that is the value creation process and offers health services organisations a diagnostic tool to identify aspects of the service process that facilitate the value creation process.

This thesis questions how media architecture can facilitate the co-creation of place. Employing a research through design methodology three hybrid (tangible and digital) design interventions were deployed in Southeast Queensland. The concept of do-it-yourself/do-it-with-others (DIY/DIWO) media architecture is proposed and implemented through the InstaBooth, a situated community engagement pop-up booth. The findings indicate that through the ability to co-create media content in the InstaBooth, participants were able to find their voice and reached a better understanding of community, informing strengthening their sense of place. This thesis contributes new knowledge towards hybrid approaches to city making expanding the definition of media architecture.

The engagement of citizens in governmental actives is the future of publicsector reforms. The private sector has already started to leverage onlinetechnology to innovate and to reinvent businesses. The move towards servicesexchange instead of goods exchange is making producers, providersand users cooperate to recognize and exploit value co-creation opportunities.The degree to which collective intelligence is leveraged could be correlatedto the value an initiative generates in the public sector. Thereby open governmentimplies a focus on value co-creation in the public sector. This thesisargues that an important purpose of opening up governments towards citizensand private business is to leverage the potential of value co-creation in asimilar fashion to that already being explored in the private sector. To explorethis phenomenon this thesis addresses the following research question:How can local government use IT services to become more open and leveragethe potential of public value co-creation?Utilizing a design science approach with interpretive philosophical assumptions,the thesis contributes to knowledge on open government and value cocreationby designing artifacts that support open government in the form ofe- and m-services. It also investigates inhibitors of public value co-creationthat may arise from the design of the artifacts.

Purpose: The aim of the research is to investigate what successful booksellers provide in store that increase interaction and thereby enhance perceived value for the customers. Approach: The study is based on a combination of using both quantitative and qualitative data, collected through questionnaire and through face-to-face interviews. A deductive approach has constituted the paper as the theoretical framework was constructed upon already existing theories. Findings: The investigated booksellers are working with all of the three interaction facilitators; servicescape, shopping event as well as employee competence to create interaction in store that thereafter through relating, communicating and knowing increase the customer perceived value. The success behind the booksellers is based on their niche and personal approach that is thoroughly implemented in their offerings, which will create a community feeling. The personal relationship with the customers gives a structural support for the communication that in the end increase the knowledge. However, the knowledge renewal was more vital for the employees in order to provide personal service. Practical implications: Brick-and-mortar stores should fully acknowledge the importance of interacting with customers, by implementing servicescape, shopping event and employee competence with a personal touch. It is important to be as physical as possible and use the store as a social meeting place. The store should create a unique atmosphere, where like-minded customers socialize. The employee competence is vital for the brick-and-mortar stores in order to provide personal service. Theoretical implications: Grönroos and Voima’s (2012) Value creation sphere-model was extended by integrating Ballantyne and Varey’s (2006) triangulated value-enable-model into the joint sphere of Grönroos and Voima’s (2012) model. Since both of the models were tested empirically the paper supplies empirical evidence for both of the theoretical models.

På senare år har organisationer börjat samarbeta med konsumenter för att tillsammans ta fram idéer och skapa nya produkter. Organisationen samskapar då ett värde tillsammans med konsumenterna, även kallat Co-Creation. Detta tillvägagångsätt har blivit allt vanligare tack vare utvecklingen av webbteknologin. Organisationer kan nu skapa innovation tillsammans med konsumenter online genom bland annat innovation communities. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vad som motiverar användare i organisationsdrivna communities att delta i CoCreation. Detta för att ge en ökad insikt kring hur ett innovation community kan skapas för att motivera konsumenter att bidra till Co-Creation. För att svara på detta genomförde vi en netnografisk studie bestående av observationer och intervjuer. Studien visade att användare motiveras av både inre och yttre motivationsfaktorer och att dessa är samverkande. Som bekräftat av tidigare studier ser vi också vikten av interaktion från organisationen sida. I uppsatsen tas problem upp som kan påverka användares motivation till att bidra. Vi tar även upp vilken betydelse de yttre motivationsfaktorer har och hur dessa påverkar användarens inre motivation.
In recent years, organizations have begun to work with consumers to jointly develop ideas and create new products. The organization co-create a value with consumers, also known as co-creation. This approach has become increasingly common, thanks to the development of Web technology. Organizations can now create innovation together with consumers online, for example through innovation communities. The aim of the study was to examine what motivates users in the organization driven online communities to participate in co-creation. This is to give greater insight into how an innovation community can be created to motivate consumers to contribute to co-creation. To answer this research question, we conducted a netnographic study consisting of observations and interviews. The study showed that users are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors and that they co-operate. As confirmed by previous studies we also see the importance of interaction from the organization. In this thesis we address issues that can affect users' motivation to contribute. We also discuss the importance of the extrinsic motivational factors and how they affect the users’ intrinsic motivation.

[EN] Nowadays, universities are finding they have more and more competition regarding postgraduate programs. As educational institutions increase the offer, the need for them to improve their knowledge about the postgraduate market becomes more evident due to the lack of existing research and scarce literature about the topic. All this will help the educational institutions to develop suitable competitive strategies in order to attract postgraduate students' talent, thus distinguishing the institutions from the competition. This proactive orientation towards the market wills, like in many other markets, end up confiding in those programs which have successful marketing and allow for innovation and differentiation. At the same time, many authors relate this proactive orientation towards the market to co-creation. More specifically in the education sector, co-creation has been researched very little and has always been focused on the undergraduate student, not postgraduate. Lastly, the consequences of the postgraduate students' participation in these co-creation processes concerning satisfaction and loyalty is something that has not been studied either. This first quantitative study has led to a validation of the proposed model which allows us to affirm that, independent of the results obtained in the co-creation process, the student involvement in it, will result in greater satisfaction and loyalty towards the institution. For this reason co-creation can help the educational institutions to develop competitive differentiating strategies which will generate not only a greater satisfaction for the student but also the possibility of achieving differentiation thanks to the resulting innovation. After this first quantitative study, a second study was carried out in a Business to Business context by sending a professional from the company to the educational institution. In this study an attempt was made to measure the consequences of co-creation in student satisfaction, strength of the relation and student loyalty. This new structural equation model (SEM) has more variables and relations than the former one, introducing the strength of the relation. In addition, the study is centered on adult students who in this case are professionals sent by their companies to study a master program, Business to Business as opposed to Business to Consumer from the former study. The conclusions of the study are that the co-creation where the adult student participates in the process takes them to higher levels of satisfaction and greater loyalty towards the educational institution. At the same time, our research shows that the strength of the relation is positively influenced by the process of creation of value. In this case, the research has only validated part of the model. Therefore, this last part of our research again reaffirms the idea that co-creation can be a beneficial tool for universities in order to develop competitive strategies which generate more value for their clients and which also makes it difficult for the competition to imitate. Finally it should be pointed out that the results of this research facilitate the implementation of a co-creation process between universities and postgraduate students as well as the possible areas of its application within the purchase process and choosing a master program. On the other hand, it has also been demonstrated that independent of the results of this process, co-creation itself leads to higher rates of satisfaction, an improvement in the strength of the relation and more student loyalty towards the institution.
[ES] En la actualidad, las universidades se encuentran con una competencia cada vez mayor en lo que se refiere a sus programas de posgrado. A la vez que se incrementa la oferta por parte de las instituciones educativas, impera la necesidad por parte de las universidades de mejorar su conocimiento sobre el mercado de posgrado, debido a la falta de investigación existente con una literatura sobre marketing escasa. Todo ello, ayudará a las instituciones educativas a desarrollar estrategias competitivas adecuadas para lograr atraer el talento de los estudiantes de posgrado diferenciándose de la competencia. Esta orientación proactiva el mercado, pasará, como en otros muchos mercados, por apostar por políticas de marketing de éxito, que permitan en un sentido o en otro, innovar y diferenciarse. Al mismo tiempo, son muchos los autores que relacionan esa orientación proactiva al mercado, con la co-creation. En el caso específico del sector educativo, la co-creation se ha estudiado poco y siempre desde una perspectiva de estudiantes universitarios, no de posgrado. Por último, las consecuencias en el alumno de posgrado de participar en estos procesos de co-creation desde el punto de vista de los efectos en su satisfacción y lealtad, es algo que tampoco se ha estudiado. Este primer estudio cuantitativo ha supuesto una validación del modelo propuesto, por lo que se puede afirmar, que con independencia de los resultados obtenidos en el proceso de co-creation, el propio proceso de involucración del alumno en ello, redundará en una mayor satisfacción y lealtad hacia la institución. Por todo ello, la co-creation puede facilitar que las instituciones educativas desarrollen estrategias competitivas diferenciadoras que generarán tanto una mayor satisfacción para el estudiante como la posibilidad de lograr diferenciación gracias la innovación que surja del mismo. Con posterioridad a este primer estudio cuantitativo, se realiza un segundo estudio si bien desde un contexto Business to Business al pretender medir las consecuencias de la co-creation en la satisfacción, fortaleza de la relación y lealtad del estudiante, en este caso profesional enviado por la empresa, hacia la institución educativa. Este nuevo modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) es más amplio en variables y relaciones que el anterior, introduciendo la fortaleza de la relación. Además se centra en estudiantes adultos que en este caso son profesionales enviados por sus empresas a realizar el programa master, vertiente Business to Business frente a Business to Consumer del anterior Las conclusiones del estudio son que la co-creation donde el estudiante adulto participa en el proceso, lleva a niveles más altos de satisfacción y a una mayor lealtad hacia la institución educativa. Al mismo tiempo, nuestra investigación muestra, que la fortaleza en la relación, está influenciada positivamente por este proceso de creación de valor si bien no media entre la co-creation y la lealtad. En este caso, la investigación sólo ha validado parte del modelo. Así, esta parte última de nuestra investigación vuelve a ser una reafirmación de la idea de que la co-creation puede ser, en sí misma, una herramienta beneficiosa para las universidades para desarrollar estrategias competitivas que generen más valor para sus clientes y que también sea difícil de imitar por la competencia Finalmente señalar que los resultados de este trabajo facilitan la implementación de un proceso de co-creation entre universidades y estudiante de posgrado así como las posibles áreas de aplicación de la misma dentro del proceso de compra y elección de un programa master. Por otra parte, también se ha demostrado, que con independencia de los resultados de este proceso, la co-creación en si misma resulta en mayores tasas de satisfacción, mejora en la fortaleza en la relación y mayor lealtad hacia la institución por parte del alumno.
[CAT] Actualment, les universitats es troben amb una competència cada vegada més gran pel que fa als seus programes de postgrau. Alhora que s'incrementa l'oferta per part de les institucions educatives, impera la necessitat per part de les universitats de millorar el seu coneixement sobre el mercat de postgrau, a causa de la falta d'investigació existent amb una literatura sobre màrqueting escassa. Tot això, ajudarà a les institucions educatives a desenvolupar estratègies competitives adequades per aconseguir atreure el talent dels estudiants de postgrau diferenciant-se de la competència. Aquesta orientació proactiva el mercat, passarà, com en molts altres mercats, per apostar per polítiques de màrqueting de éxitoexitosas, que permetin en un sentit o en un altre, innovar i diferenciar-se. Alhora, són molts els autors que relacionen aquesta orientació proactiva al mercat, amb la co-creation. En el cas específic del sector educatiu, la co-creation s'ha estudiat poc i sempre des d'una perspectiva d'estudiants universitaris, no de postgrau. Finalment, les conseqüències en l'alumne de postgrau de participar en aquests processos de co-creation des del punt de vista dels efectes en la seva satisfacció i lleialtat, és una cosa que tampoc s'ha estudiat. Aquest primer estudi quantitatiu ha suposat una validació del model proposat, de manera que es pot afirmar, que amb independència dels resultats obtinguts en el procés de co-creation, el mateix procés d'involucració de l'alumne en això, redundarà en una major satisfacció i lleialtat cap a la institució. Per tot això, la co-creation pot facilitar que les institucions educatives desenvolupin estratègies competitives diferenciadores que generaran tant una major satisfacció per a l'estudiant com la possibilitat d'aconseguir diferenciació gràcies la innovació que sorgeixi de ell mateix. Amb posterioritat a aquest primer estudi quantitatiu, es realitza un segon estudi si bé des d'un context Business to Business en pretendre mesurar les conseqüències de la co-creation a la satisfacció, fortalesa de la relació i lleialtat de l'estudiant, en aquest cas professional enviat per l'empresa, cap a la institució educativa. Aquest nou model d'equacions estructurals (SEM) és més ampli en variables i relacions que l'anterior, introduint la fortalesa de la relació. A més se centra en estudiants adults que en aquest cas són professionals enviats per les seves empreses a realitzar el programa màster, vessant Business to Business davant Business to Consumer l'anterior Les conclusions de l'estudi són que la co-creation on l'estudiant adult participa en el procés, porta a nivells més alts de satisfacció ia una major lleialtat cap a la institució educativa. Alhora, la nostra investigació mostra, que la fortalesa en la relació, està influenciada positivament per aquest procés de creació de valor si bé no hi ha entre la co-creation i la lleialtat. En aquest cas, la investigació només ha validat part del model. Així, aquesta part última de la nostra recerca torna a ser una reafirmació de la idea que la co-creation pot ser, en si mateixes, una eina beneficiosa per a les universitats per desenvolupar estratègies competitives que generin més valor per als seus clients i que també sigui difícil d'imitar per la competència Finalment assenyalar que els resultats d'aquest treball faciliten la implementació d'un procés de co-creation entre universitats i estudiant de postgrau així com les possibles àrees d'aplicació de la mateixa dins del procés de compra i elecció d'un programa màster. D'altra banda, també s'ha demostrat, que amb independència dels resultats d'aquest procés, la co-creació en si mateixa resulta en majors taxes de satisfacció, millora en la fortalesa en la relació i major lleialtat cap a la institució per part de l'alumne .
Peralt Rillo, A. (2015). Co-creation innovation for business programs for educational institutions [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/51462
TESIS

Social marketing is a way of thinking and operating that aims to build solutions people value. Through voluntary exchange, social marketing can deliver behaviour change for societal benefit. Social marketing can be applied to food waste and the environment. The effectiveness of social marketing in food waste behaviour change has received limited attention. Moreover, a clear roadmap on how to apply social marketing benchmarks to co-create programs is absent. This thesis brings together the results of ten studies reported in five papers, which aim to address two main research questions across two stages of research. In Stage 1, three formative research studies were conducted to inform the design of a consumer-insight driven social marketing pilot program (Studies 1a-c). Two empirical studies reported an evaluation of the pilot program (Studies 1d-e). Stage 2 of this thesis expanded the social marketing benchmark criteria (SMBC) application to co-create a social marketing behaviour change program. Studies 2a-e aimed to incorporate all eight SMBC in formative research, thus, demonstrates when, where, and how benchmarks can be applied to co-create a food waste prevention program. More specifically, drawing from Stage 1 learnings, Stage 2 studies aimed to extend the number of social marketing benchmarks that were applied, to extend behaviour change rates in program delivery. This thesis provides a new conceptual framework of Marketing Cocreation that incorporates all benchmarks into an existing co-design process. This thesis makes four major contributions. Firstly, this research verified the efficacy of social marketing in changing food waste behaviour. Secondly, this research identified consumer insights to guide researchers/practitioners in the food waste context. Thirdly, it outlines a first attempt to implement a comprehensive program of formative research that applies all benchmarks to co-create a marketing program aiming to reduce household food waste. Finally, the framework of Marketing Co-creation is proposed for social marketing academics/practitioners to guide the implementation of social marketing principles during program co-creation. This thesis offers a framework that can be applied by researchers and/or practitioners, ensuring that more benchmarks are utilised during cocreation with the aim to enhance the likelihood of behavioural change.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Dept of Marketing
Griffith Business School
Full Text

The purpose of this thesis was exploring stakeholder influence on brand identity co-creation in startups, by answering the research question: "How do stakeholders influence brand identity co-creation in startups?". To answer this question, a multiple case study was conducted, consisting of interviews with six B2C (business-to-customer) startups. Furthermore, the startups studied are all tenants of incubators. This context is of interest, since incubators have been suggested to provide extensive resources and knowledge for startups struggling with their businesses' establishment. To analyze the data from the case studies, mainly the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix (Urde, 2013) was used, which helps to provide an overview of how different elements of brand identity are co-created with stakeholders in startups. In addition, to study this subject requires an overview and discussion of brand management research, stakeholder theory and co-creation litertature.  The findings show that several of the brand identity elements are co-created with stakeholders in startups. The stakeholders identified in co-creation are several, mainly cusomers, financiers, producers, designers and programmers. Furthermore, an interesting correlation between startups' orientations and co-creation, was discovered. The startups with a mainly market-oriented approach to branding are co-creating the brand identity elements to a much further extent, than brand-oriented startups. Finally, incubators are revealed as co-creators of several of the brand identity elements in startups, but the study also provides further insightsd into their important role in supporting the startups and facilitating networking opportunities.

Abstract Background: Value co-creation emerged at the beginning of the 21st century as a new way of understanding of value and its creation which occurs around individualized experiences of co-creation, leading to the creation of value that is exclusive to every person. In the essence of the concept of value co-creation lays the service-dominant logic of marketing. The investigation of value co-creation within brand communities has been emphasized in recent years. The practices of brand community members play a significant role in the value co-creation. Since Airbnb has never been looked as a brand community in the value co-creation literature, it remained unclear how value can be co-created through the practices of Airbnb community members. Purpose: How value is co-created between brand community members of Airbnb (between hosts and guests and guests themselves) through their practices in their experiences within the corporeal world? Method: In order to meet the purpose of this study, authors applied a qualitative method. Further, a netnographic strategy has been employed which led us to collect online-posted reviews of Airbnb guests from Airbnb website. Authors used purposive sampling by selecting the only guests who had the previous experience of stay in Airbnb accommodations in cases of on-site hospitality. 155 reviews of different guests from 31 accommodation profiles were collected in three waves of data collection. Moreover, a grounded theory coding was employed in order to analyze the data. Conclusion: We identified 14 sub-categories of value-creating practices that emerged under four major categories, namely: practice of sharing, practice of communicating, practice of saving, and practice of authenticating. Further, in the process of elaboration of main elements of practices (i.e. objects, doings, and meanings), we found general connections of these elements within the practices of hosts and guests (i.e. Airbnb community members) that helped us to understand how value is co-created in their experiences within the corporeal world.

Co-creation is nowadays a booming activity implemented by companies in order to be closer to their customers and to fulfil their needs. By using co-creation, a company involves their customers in the process of creation aiming to get ideas and insights that allow the company to launch a new product or to improve an existing product. Nevertheless, most of the companies think that implementing a co-creation process is a question of methodology. Companies believe that by building on a formalized method and by using a step-by-step implementation, the co-creation will be successful. The truth speaks something else. Recently, researchers started to pop-up trying to highlight how the co-creation is a complex process arising the likelihood of having a value co- destruction rather than a value co-creation as a result of the process. Further, in 2015, a study states the importance of studying and understanding the negative consequences of value co-creation. For these reasons, the purpose of our thesis is to understand the downsides of co-creation during new product development and their effects on the relationship between the company and the customers. Our research question is: What are the downsides of the co-creation process and their effects on the relationship between the company and customers during new product development? In order to answer this question, we conducted a qualitative study to collect our primary data using an in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data have been collected from eleven participants involved in the co-creation field. From experts of co-creation to designers and researchers, we wanted to have a practitioner point of view rather than from a customer perspective. Indeed, the objectives of conducting these interviews were to gain a focus understanding and a comprehensive perception of the individuals using, implementing, researching on, or consulting about the co-creation process. From the data collected, we analysed our interviews using a thematic network analysis approach. From then, we tested and discussed our empirical results and our concepts from our theoretical frame of references. Through the analysis of the interviews data, we are able to state that there are four main downsides of the co-creation process during new product development: misbehaviour of the company, mismanagement of the environment, miscommunication and mismanagement of the process. The effects of these downsides will affect: the company, the product, the customer satisfaction, trust and commitment and the emotions. Further, we are capable to confirm the importance of the variables of trust, commitment and customer satisfaction in the management of a relationship. Finally, we compromise the idea of customer self-blaming, and the term of “failure”. Indeed, our analysis shows that the responsibility of co-creation belongs to the company that owns the project. Hence, the customer will not blame themselves or feel guilty in case of unsuccessful outcomes. Interestingly, our analysis debates about the use of the term failure to express unexpected negative outcomes from the process. We conclude that a mismanaged co-creation can be perceived as a learning process rather than a failure per se, leading us to confirm that we cannot consider the co-creation outcome as a failure.

Influencer marketing has become a buzz word within the industry over the last few years. However, marketers claim that the industry needs to focus on a more quality-driven approach for brand collaborations instead of just looking after follower numbers and the potential brand awareness guaranteed by them. Therefore, the aspects and interests behind the collaborations of companies and influencers become of more importance. This research project aims for gathering more insights on the current and future collaboration practices in order to answer the question of how potential conflicts of interest between companies and influencers can be better managed. The choice of this research topic was driven by the fact that existing literature approaching influencer marketing and the collaboration practices between companies and influencers so far mainly focuses on the company’s perspective and thereby leaves out the interests of the influencers engaging in brand collaborations. Thereby, a research gap was identified that clearly emphasises the influencers’ perspective on currentcollaboration practices and expectations for future collaborations. Thus, the influencers’ perspective on potential conflicts of interest and critical aspects within collaborations were analysed in order to develop suggestions for better managing conflicts of interests between those two parties in the future. In order to gather the necessary insights qualitative interviews among seven Instagram influencers and two representatives from influencer marketing agencies were conducted. The findings of this thesis revealed three main critical aspects for successful future collaborations between companies and influencers to manage potential conflicts of interest; a stronger focus on a qualitative fit, a more transparent communication and a knowledge improvement about the influencer marketing business. In connection to the existing literature the findings suggested that the co-creation of brands and the building of brand partnerships can support the management of potential conflicts of interest and furthermore help to prevent them from the beginning on. From a theoretical perspective this thesis bridged the identified research gap by analysing the collaboration between companies and influencers from an influencer perspective and thereby suggested the use of co-creation as a theoretical framework for managing conflicts of interest within brand collaborations. Moreover, the findings revealed practical implications for the influencer marketing industry in regards to the need of more interactive dialogues, a more qualitative selection of collaboration partners and the necessity for a deeper examination and knowledge improvement of the influencer marketing industry in the future.

In recent years, AI has received increased attention in the field of marketing and is believed to grow even more in the future. It seems that the use of AI in marketing has a significant impact on consumer value creation. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how consumers experience the role of AI-marketing within the scope of the online customer journey, including how both positive and negative aspects of AI-based decision aids influence their value co-creation. Based on previous research, a conceptual model was created to determine whether consumers co-create or co-destroy value in the interactions with AI-based decision aids, as well as which types of values that are the outcomes. Three focus groups were used as a qualitative method to collect empirical data. Findings resulted in two main insights. Firstly, consumers experience the role of AI-based decision aids positively and can co-create values regarding economic and efficiency benefits, facilitation of information search, and more inspiring, personal and relevant experiences. Secondly, AI-based decision aids are also perceived negatively and contribute to co-destruction of value as well. Consumers experienced negative aspects regarding manipulation, limitations and loss of integrity and autonomy, as well as risks of overspending, being misled and distracted, and having irrelevant experiences. This thesis contributes with new insights into the consumer perspective of AI-marketing. Marketers can use these results to understand consumers’ value creation and avoid the negative aspects to achieve the best possible AI-marketing strategies.

The demand for increased efficiency and patient-centered care has been influencing the development of healthcare in Sweden, and information technology has an important role in that process. Developing and implementing systems for public healthcare have proven to be a great challenge. One way to address this challenge is open innovation and co-creation. While there are a lot of studies focusing on innovation processes, there is little research regarding how technology is presented in the results. We have studied a co-creational workshop that focused on putting new perspectives on the use of information technology in healthcare. The workshop resulted in eight concepts which have been analyzed in terms of how technology is expressed. The results were categorized into implicit and explicit use of technology and this categorization indicates that the implicit use of technology is of the bricolage kind. By being both implicit and bricolage-like, the concepts hold qualities that make them more likely to be integrated into existing workplaces.

Problem: In today’s business markets companies are faced with new challenges occurring from globalization, new technologies, deregulation, blurring borders between industries, and outsourcing which change the competitive environment in the market. To deal with these challenges organizations are forced to look for new and innovative ways to differentiate themselves from competitors and to satisfy customers’ demands for more customized products and services. Additionally, nowadays customers strive for fulfilling their needs by being more active. Value co-creation, the collaboration between companies and customers, is as a solution of current interest to cope with these challenges. Due to the close linkage between retailers and customers, value co-creation is of high interest for this part of the SC. Hence, this thesis focuses on the retailer-customer context and co-creation in terms of co-designing of bikes. Purpose: The purpose of this Master of Science thesis is to investigate how and why retailers and customers co-create value. Therefore, retailers’ and customers’ potential motivators, the interaction between them and the actors’ potential outcomes are explored. Method: This thesis conducts an exploratory and qualitative investigation of three case companies; Bike by Me, myownbike, and 718 Cyclery. The empirical material is gathered from interviews with the CEOs of the three companies, the retailers’ customers, and potential customers. The findings have been analyzed using a framework developed based on existing literature, stated in the frame of reference, which is improved by this thesis’ findings. Conclusions: Customers and retailers co-create value due to different potential motivators and outcomes. Retailers are motivated by aspects such as increases in competitive advantage, differentiation, customer loyalty, and better understanding of new needs. Customers’ motivators are amongst others the product itself, individuality, and enjoyment. As retailers’ outcomes increased efficiency and effectiveness, new customer acquisition, and the establishment of long-term relationships are identified. Customers’ outcomes are high customer satisfaction, new knowledge, convenience, and financial aspects. Actions between retailers and customers in value co-creation are identified through a learning phase and an innovation phase. The retailer participates through providing information, the platform for co-creation, and suggestions and assistance. The customers collaborate in terms of designing the product, expression of desires and experiences, feedback, and WOM in interaction with other customers.

For whom do we transform our built environment? The answer may seem obvious, since architecture, in theory, is conceived for humans and for the emancipation of communities. However, it is clear that architecture has moved away in many ways from this initial purpose. Making our cities increasingly attractive through ambitious urban renovation campaigns, with renewed public spaces and neighbourhoods, has led to issues that are the consequences of an urbanism of exclusion. These include gentrification, social tensions and mass tourism. Recently, this situation has caused some to consider architecture and urbanism in a more inclusive way, from the perspective of neighbourhood communities and for the common good. Inherited from the twentieth century, participation processes, which are related directly with reclaiming the city, are now re-emerging in urban and architectural processes in democratic administrations. Sustainable, resilient, inclusive urban regeneration means working with inhabitants when cities are transformed, giving them the opportunity to collaborate in the city’s creation. Today, these processes are evolving. New creative artistic tools are emerging that are changing the modus operandi. However, there are many gaps, with so-called participatory processes that do not guarantee the real participation of local communities. It seems that there are still many doubts and misunderstandings about how to define participatory architecture and its processes, and there is a real need for a paradigm shift. The aim of this research is to provide an updated definition and interpretation of participation in architecture in urban spaces. The thesis is organised into three parts: (1) Retrospective, (2) Tools and (3) Co-creation Experiments. The first part (1) consists of an organised retrospective of participation in history, to clarify the concept and understand all its facets. The second part (2) examines the creation of methodology for participatory action with new and traditional tools (information and communication technology, mapping, big data cartographies, artistic and creative tools such as urban sketching, tactical planning, opinion polls and collaborative websites, among others). This is achieved by classifying the tools into a taxonomy, generated through an analysis of several past and recent case studies in which the real stakeholders in urban planning – its users – co-designed the project. By combining the tools, we should be able to build a methodology or a guide for co-creation workshops. Finally, the last part (3) describes experiments in which our students collaborated with the local community, hopefully to encourage a change in habits and mindset. In fact, we show how the momentum should start from universities and education, relying on artistic co-creation as a participatory and project medium. In other words, the idea is to work creatively together for the common good.
¿Para quién hacemos arquitectura y ciudad? la respuesta puede parecer obvia, ya que la arquitectura, en teoría, se dedica a construir para la humanidad y la emancipación de sus comunidades. Sin embargo, está claro que también se ha alejado en muchos aspectos de este primer objetivo. Hacer que nuestras ciudades sean cada vez más atractivas a través de ambiciosas campañas de renovación urbana, con espacios públicos y vecindarios renovados, también ha llevado a problemas emergentes, consecuencias de un urbanismo de exclusión. Este último se expresa a través de la gentrificación, tensiones sociales, y turismo de masas. Afortunadamente, esto ha llevado recientemente pensar de una manera más inclusiva desde las comunidades locales. Heredados del siglo XX, los procesos de participación, que están directamente relacionados con la recuperación de la ciudad, ahora están resurgiendo en procesos urbanos y arquitectónicos en administraciones democratizadoras. La regeneración urbana sostenible, resiliente e inclusiva significa trabajar con los habitantes cuando las ciudades se transforman, dándoles la oportunidad de colaborar en la creación de la ciudad. Hoy en día, estos procesos evolucionan: emergen nuevas herramientas artísticas creativas que cambian el modus operandi. Sin embargo, hay muchas brechas actuales, con los llamados procesos participativos que no garantizan la participación real de las comunidades locales. Parece que todavía hay malentendidos sobre lo que es la arquitectura participativa, así como sus procesos, mientras que existe una necesidad real de cambio paradigmático. Esta investigación propone dar una respuesta y una interpretación renovada de la participación en la arquitectura, y más exactamente en los espacios urbanos, organizadas en tres partes: (1) retrospectiva, (2) herramientas y (3) experimentos de co-creación. La primera parte (1) consiste en una retrospectiva organizada de participación en la historia para aclarar su concepto y comprender su diversidad de facetas. La segunda parte (2) revela la creación de una metodología para la acción participativa con herramientas nuevas y tradicionales (tecnología de la información y las comunicaciones, mapeo, cartografías de big data, herramientas artísticas y creativas como bosquejos urbanos, planificación táctica, encuestas de opinión y sitios web colaborativos, entre otros), a través de su clasificación en una taxonomía. La taxonomía se ha generado a través de un análisis de varios estudios de casos históricos y recientes en los que sus usuarias y sus usuarios, co-diseñaron el proyecto. Al combinar las herramientas, deberíamos ser capaces de construir una metodología o una guía para talleres de co-creación. Finalmente, la última parte (3) involucra experimentos en los cuales nuestras y nuestros estudiantes colaboran con la comunidad local, con la esperanza de alentar un cambio en los hábitos y la sensibilidad. De hecho, mostraremos cómo debe comenzar el impulso desde las universidades y la educación, confiando en la co-creación artística como medio participativo y proyectual. En otras palabras, trabajar creativamente juntos por el bien común.
Pour qui transformons-nous notre environnement bâti? La réponse peut sembler évidente puisque l’architecture, en théorie, conçoit pour l’être humain et pour l’émancipation de ses communautés. Néanmoins, il est clair qu’elle s’est également éloignée à bien des égards de ce premier objectif : la transformation de nos villes afin de les rendre plus attractives, à travers d’ambitieuses campagnes de rénovation urbaine, avec des espaces publics et des quartiers renouvelés, a également conduit à des enjeux émergents, qui sont les conséquences d’un urbanisme de l’exclusion. Ce dernier s’exprime à travers la gentrification (ou embourgeoisement), l’augmentation des tensions sociales ou encore l’abandon à un scénario de tourisme de masse. Ces conséquences ont récemment amené à penser l’urbanisme d’une manière plus inclusive en travaillant avec et depuis les communautés d’un lieu donné. Hérité du XXème siècle, les processus de participation, directement liés à la récupération de la ville, apparaissent désormais dans les outils d’urbanisme reconnus par les administrations démocratiques. Une régénération urbaine durable et flexible, exige de travailler avec les habitants, en leur donnant la possibilité de collaborer directement à la création de la ville. Aujourd’hui, ces processus évoluent : de nouveaux outils artistiques et technologiques créatifs émergent, ce qui change le modus operandi. Cependant, il existe actuellement de nombreuses lacunes, avec des processus soi-disant participatifs qui ne garantissent pas une participation réelle des communautés locales. Il semble qu’il existe encore de nombreux doutes et malentendus sur ce qu’est l’architecture participative ainsi que sur ses processus, alors qu’il y a un réel besoin de changement paradigmatique. Cette recherche a pour objectif d’apporter une réponse et une interprétation renouvelée de la participation appliquée à l’architecture et aux espaces urbains. Cette thèse est organisée en trois parties : (1) Rétrospective, (2) Outils et (3) Expériences de cocréation. La première partie (1) consiste en une rétrospective organisée de la participation qui permet de clarifier son concept et de comprendre la diversité de ses facettes. La deuxième partie (2) met en évidence la création d’une méthodologie d’action participative avec des outils nouveaux et traditionnels (technologies de l’information et de la communication, cartographie, big data, outils artistiques et créatifs tels que l’esquisse urbaine, la planification tactique, les sondages d’opinion et les sites collaboratifs, entre autres). Ces instruments ont été classés dans une taxonomie générée par l’analyse de nombreux cas d’études dans lesquelles les véritables acteurs de l’urbanisme -ses utilisateurs et ses utilisatrices- ont conçu ensemble le projet. En combinant les outils, nous devrions pouvoir construire une méthodologie à l’image d’un guide pour les ateliers de cocréation. Enfin, la dernière partie (3) implique des expériences dans lesquelles nos étudiantes et nos étudiants collaborent avec la communauté locale, dans l’espoir d’encourager un changement d’habitudes et de sensibilité. De fait, nous montrerons comment cet élan devrait commencer depuis l’éducation et le monde universitaire, en s’appuyant sur la cocréation artistique comme médium participatif. En d’autres termes, travailler ensemble, de manière créative et positive, pour le bien commun.

The involvement of customers and other stakeholders in the innovation process is proposed to be a key success factor and something that makes companies more competitive. As a consequence, more and more organizations alter their innovation strategy accordingly. In order for a company to open up innovation processes, it is vital to foster a practice where there is openness for external ideas and knowledge. However, when external ideas meet internal innovation practices complex organizational situations appear. Creativity, for example, involves co-dependence of other persons’ strategies and actions. New roles for those involved affect hierarchies and knowledge sharing opportunities. This thesis involves three different perspectives of the same process provides an opportunity to study both individual and structural challenges. This research aims to identify on-going challenges for an organization during the transformational processes that adjustment from a traditional product innovation structure to an open service innovation culture implies. This qualitative case study involves two main cases and three supporting cases and aims to understand how users and other external parties, top management and middle managers experience open innovation processes. The results describe interactions between organizations and users or external stakeholders as well as internal interactions within the organization. Top management were dedicated to the idea of increased openness, but detected structural issues to deal with in order to implement user involved innovation. Among middle management, some individual aspects such as attitudes and relational issues matter, as well as organizational structures and practices. Users had mixed opinions about their participation in the process. Favorable experiences, such as benevolence and deepened relationships, were balanced by un-favorable experiences such as incapability and intrusion. Different dimensions of openness regarding open innovation practice are discussed. In this work a relational focus is emphasized. The findings assist managers in their work to create conditions for open innovation. Managers can benefit from this research by getting a better understanding of how different stakeholders’ experience co-creation of value. This is relevant for innovation managers in the process of redesigning innovation processes to understand different aspects of the interactions involved.
KIT
SIMGIC

While innovation has been a critical tool for the success of hospitality businesses, there has been little research concerning how hospitality service innovation is created. Focusing on knowledge development for service innovation, this dissertation examines hospitality open innovation processes by highlighting the critical role of customers as important external stakeholders for knowledge creation. More specifically, this research examines how hospitality brand community members engage in brand activities that co-create non-transactional knowledge value for open innovation. To achieve the research purpose, the dissertation consists of four independent studies. The design of the four studies followed a theory development process focusing on bibliometric analysis (Study 1), exploratory analysis (Study 2), empirical analysis (Study 3), and experimental analysis (Study 4). Study 1 conducted bibliometric co-citation analysis to examine the foundation and evolution of the service innovation research in both hospitality and tourism and service management literature. Study 2 examined how hospitality (hotel) customers engage in an online brand community and what types of value are co-created from their engagement behaviors. Study 3 empirically developed a multi-dimensional measure of customer engagement behaviors for co-creating non-transactional value. Lastly, Study 4 examined how hospitality online brand community members participate in open innovation behaviors as a result of customer empowerment and social recognition. Study 1 identified critical research opportunities for future hospitality and tourism research in terms of innovation creation, diffusion, and evaluation. Most importantly, open innovation via customer engagement was identified as a critical topic to understand hospitality innovation creation. In Study 2, customer engagement behaviors, motivations, and value co-creation were qualitatively analyzed in the context of an online hotel brand community. Using mixed-methods, including netnography analysis and qualitative written interviews, a conceptual framework of value co-creation via customer engagement was developed. Based on this framework, Study 3 developed a scale consisting of 15 items measuring customer engagement behaviors in terms of influential-experience value, C-to-B innovation value, relational value, and citizenship value. Lastly, Study 4 found a causal process that customer empowerment makes a positive impact on the intention of open innovation engagement and the creativity of ideas by mediating intrinsic motivation.
Doctor of Philosophy
While innovation has been a critical tool for the success of hospitality businesses, there has been little research concerning how hospitality service innovation is created. Focusing on knowledge development for service innovation, this dissertation examines hospitality open innovation processes by highlighting the critical role of customers as important external stakeholders for knowledge creation. More specifically, this research examines how hospitality brand community members engage in brand activities that co-create non-transactional knowledge value for open innovation. To achieve the research purpose, the dissertation consists of four independent studies. The design of the four studies followed a theory development process focusing on bibliometric critical literature review analysis (Study 1), exploratory analysis (Study 2), empirical analysis (Study 3), and experimental analysis (Study 4). Specifically, Study 1 critically analyzed service innovation academic studies published in the last decade in both hospitality and tourism and service management journals to get insights into future research directions. Study 2 analyzed how hospitality (hotel) customers engage in online brand community activities in terms of the benefits of the behaviors and the motivations for the engagement behaviors. Study 3 developed a practical tool to measure customer engagement behaviors. Lastly, Study 4 investigated how hospitality online brand community members participate in idea sharing behaviors in terms of customer empowerment and social recognition. Study 1 identified critical research opportunities for future hospitality and tourism research in terms of innovation creation, diffusion, and evaluation. Most importantly, open innovation via customer engagement was identified as a critical topic to understand hospitality innovation creation. Focusing on the open innovation, Study 2 analyzed hospitality customers' various engagement activities and contents created from the activities in an online hotel brand community. A conceptual framework of value co-creation via customer engagement behaviors was developed. Based on this framework, Study 3 developed a scale consisting of 15 items measuring customer engagement behaviors in terms of influential-experience value, C-to-B innovation value, relational value, and citizenship value. Lastly, Study 4 found that customers are likely to share their service ideas with hospitality practitioners when they enjoy doing so with the belief that their ideas can affect brand management decisions.

Co-creation has been conceptualized in a number of ways but is generally referred to as an ongoing partnership between a firm and stakeholders (i.e. consumers) to collaboratively identify and solve mutually beneficial issues. While current scholarship has deepened our knowledge about the process of including consumers in the co-production of value, much remains to be learned. This is particularly true with respect to the consumer behavior side of the discipline as it pertains to creativity and motivation. Thus, the focus of the following three essays is to investigate how customer participation in the ideation of products and advertising influences down-stream responses, depending upon an individual's regulatory focus. According to regulatory focus theory, individuals are motivated to pursue their goals based upon two distinct self-regulatory systems known as promotion and prevention. Promotion-focused consumers are most concerned with the achievement of accomplishments and aspirations, which often results in approach oriented behavior. In contrast, prevention focused individuals seek to avoid negative end states, such as losses, and therefore are concerned with their security, duties, and obligations, resulting in avoidance-related behavior. These two distinct motivational states influence the way these individuals approach creative goals, which shares commonalities with co-creation. By its very nature, the goal of co-creation is to develop novel output, which often requires creativity. However, the way promotion versus prevention consumers approach creativity significantly varies, and therefore, the purpose of the present research is to understand how regulatory focus interacts with co-creation across three specific contexts to influence consumer responses. Essay 1, titled "From Ordinary to Extraordinary: Using Analogies to Increase Consumer-Brand Outcomes," finds across two studies that when engaging in co-creation, promotion focused individuals have significantly greater purchase intentions if first given an analogical reasoning task prior to a co-creation activity. Prevention-focused consumers (who are often considered less creative) can also experience heightened creativity and purchase intentions if first primed with images having common ground (near analogies) as inspiration, compared to promotion individuals who need images with less common ground (far analogies). In addition, study 1 found that an analogical reasoning task produces ideas that are significantly more creative than providing no task, whereas study 2 finds that far visual analogies produce ideas that are significantly more creative than near analogies. Two post-hoc studies also provide additional insights. Essay 2, titled "Advertising Co-Creation to Decease Texting and Driving: A Regulatory Focus Perspective," demonstrates that co-creation and creativity can also be helpful within a social marketing context (i.e. texting and driving). Construal level theory is combined with regulatory focus theory to show how user generated advertisements about the dangers of texting and driving are more effective at decreasing harmful behavior than an ad that was not self-created. However, it depends upon who the advertisement is created for (i.e. social distance). Across 4 studies, essay 2 finds that a co-created advertisement, as opposed to an ad that was no self-created, is more effective at reducing cell phone related distracted driving because it encourages deeper processing of information which then increases mental imagery and advertisement believability. However, the effectiveness of a co-created ad for decreasing harmful texting behavior can be further enhanced by asking promotion focused consumers to create a socially far advertisement (i.e. ad for an average college student) vs a socially near advertisement (i.e. ad for best friend) for prevention focused individuals. Analytical vs. imagery processing are offered as explanations. Essay 3, titled "Regulatory Focus and Creativity: How an Episodic Induction Enhances Self-Perceived Levels of Creativity and Downstream Consumer-Brand Responses," explores the differences between prevention and promotion individuals pertaining to their self-views of creativeness and how this influences brand responses. Specifically, 5 studies demonstrate that promotion individuals have more positive brand responses (i.e. willingness to pay) when engaging in a creative brand encounter because they have more certainty in their own ideas which increases self-perceived level of creativity. However, prevention individuals can also experience positive outcomes by appealing to their episodic memory through a remembering the past task, which helps them to have more certainty in their own ideas which then increases self-perceived level of creativity. These positive outcomes can be further strengthened by prompting prevention consumers to remember a positive past experience. In summary, these three essays provide a solid foundation of how regulatory focus interacts with co-creation and creativity to influence down-stream responses. Essay 1 provides evidence for the merits of giving consumers a creative task that matches their regulatory focus prior to engaging in a creative brand encounter. Next, essay 2 explores how advertising co-creation can be an effective way of reducing texting and driving behavior among college students. Lastly, essay 3 examines how self-perceived creativity influences downstream brand responses depending upon one's regulatory focus.