Online value co‐creation activities in three management domains: The role of climate and personal needs

Abstract

Abstract Customers' online value co‐creation activities can occur the whole management domain (i.e., product design, marketing, and customer relationship management) of a product. Previous studies have researched value co‐creation from different angles, customers' online value co‐creation activities are more complex and its formation mechanism still worth exploring. Online communities need to create different environments according to different management fields to stimulate customers to participate in Online Value Co‐creation activities. Existing research confuses different value co‐creation activities in the entire management field without considering the different antecedents of Online Value Co‐creation activities in different situations and different management domains. The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation mechanism behind customers' online value co‐creation activities during the whole management domain. Drawing on social learning theory, this study examines the influential role of environmental factors (i.e., innovation climate and social climate) of online communities and personal need factors (i.e., brand passion, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and desire for control) on customers' value co‐creation activities in the three fields of the management domain. Empirical analyses in this study reveal that these factors play different roles in shaping value co‐creation activities in the three fields. The findings enrich our understanding of customers' value co‐creation activities in online communities and offer a broadened view of the value co‐creation framework and climate theory. Understanding the factors that motivate consumers to engage in co‐creation activities in different management domain enables firms to strategically manage their co‐creation relationships and innovation processes.