An empirical study of the impact of co-creation in enhancing NPD competences: A focus on the role of social media in enabling co-creation in consumer goods

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore the interconnected relationships between cocreation, NPD and social media. Examining co-creation as a competence enhancing approach to NPD projects, and social media as an enabler of co-creation. The research provides a practical framework guiding the design of social media enabled co-creation experiences, to deliver a high-level impact on NPD competences. The exploratory study conducts an empirical investigation into the consumer goods market (non-durables and semi-durables). It maintains a focus on the metatheoretical principles of co-creation, providing a mid-range perspective of how to implement these principles in practice. The methodology involves a single case study with the perspectives of brands and consumers included as embedded units. Data are collected through qualitative interviews and document analysis, and analysed using a combination of content analysis and morphological analysis principles. The key findings guide the design of effective co-creation experiences. This is achieved through an in-depth knowledge of the fundamental driving and inhibiting factors both brands and consumers face; the specific characteristics of social media that enable co-creation; and several contextual contributions. Additionally, the findings contribute a deep understanding of the high-level relationship between cocreation and NPD competences, and categorise the role of social media in enabling co-creation. The results enrich the existing literature and provide practical contributions to guide the implementation of a co-creation approach in NPD. Despite the proliferation of the term co-creation since its emergence over a decade ago, a large portion of prior research deviates from the meta-theoretical principles of co-creation. Moreover, there remains a lack of frameworks guiding the implementation of co-creation in a real-life NPD scenario. This study makes an original contribution by exploring the meta-theoretical principles of co-creation in context, contributing a deep understanding of the interconnected relationships between co-creation, NPD and social media, and providing a practical framework to guide the implementation of social media enabled co-creation experiences.