Co-Creating Demand: Affective and Cognitive Dynamics in the Consumer Co-Innovation Process

Abstract

Consumer co-innovation is evolving into an important avenue for organisations to leverage external knowledge. However, knowledge on the effective management of consumer co-innovation is lacking. This is problematic since innovating with consumers may be challenging due to varying levels of commitment, skills, and motivations, which have cognitive and affective foundations. In innovation literature, however, the cognitive, rational underpinnings of innovation behaviour are foregrounded, relative to affect, which limits explanatory capacity for effective co-innovation with consumers. Drawing on 83 in-depth interviews with designers, managers, and consumers involved in co-innovation, in situ observations, archival data, and focus group discussions, we introduce an integrative process model of consumer co-innovation. We identify eight constituent and recursive co-innovation activities, which aggregate into three phases of the co-innovation process: co-creating context, content, and convergence. We furthermore unpack affective and cognitive dynamics that concurrently condition the effectiveness across the consumer co-innovation process. Our integrative process model offers important insights into the complementary yet understudied role of cognition and affect, while providing concrete pathways for organisations seeking to renew their innovation process with a focus on leveraging the organisation’s external consumer resource base.