Refining Virtual Co-Creation from a Consumer Perspective

This article refines virtual co-creation from a sodal exchange theory perspective. It looks into who participates in virtual new production development activities, why they do so, and what they expect from their participation. A study of consumers from 10 different virtual co-creation projects provides insights into what, how, and with whom consumers want to interact when engaging in virtual co-creation projects. It shows that consumers co-creation expeaations differ along various dimensions such as the preferred interadion partner, the intensity and extent of partidpation, and the consumers motivations. This analysis identifies several types of participation motives - monetary reward, recognition, challenge, intrinsic interest, and curiosity - that help explain different consumer expeaations. Partidpants also vary in their personal charaaeristics and expeaations towards virtual co-creation. The article also offers praaical recommendations for designing a rewarding virtual co-creation platform.