Customer interface design for customer co-creation in the social era

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) whether six elements of a customer interface for co-creation, (a) character, (b) choice, (c) community, (d) contact interactivity, (e) convenience, and (f) customization, were related to customer commitment to co-creation, (2) whether customer commitment was related to patronage intention toward co-creation of ordinary fashion products (study 1) and Hawaiian Aloha fashion products (study 2), and (3) whether the moderating effects of financial and product performance risks affected the relationship between commitment and patronage intention. Data were collected from online apparel shoppers (n = 688) for study 1 and online apparel shoppers who are willing to engage in co-creation for Aloha fashions (n = 336) for study 2, using a U.S. consumer panel via an online survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model. Among the 6Cs of the customer interface design for co-creation, character, choice, and customization were found to be important elements that affected customer commitment to co-creation for both ordinary fashion products and Aloha fashion products. Product performance risk did not moderate the relationship between customer commitment and patronage intention. The differences between the results of ordinary fashion products and Aloha fashion products were discussed.