Drivers of Customer Brand Engagement and Value Co-Creation in China: A Prioritization Approach

Abstract

Engaging customers in co-creation activities and making them active partners in the value creation and innovation processes as a new marketing perspective has become a widely accepted approach in today’s highly competitive business environment. However, research on the subject has mainly focused on the factors that motivate the customers to participate in co-creation. Little is known about the firm-based factors that can have impacts on the customers’ motivations. Using a prioritization approach with Analytical Hierarchy Process, the aim of this paper is to analyze the relative importance of perceived brand innovativeness, customer-based brand equity, relationship equity and brand literacy compared to each other in customers’ willingness to engage in co-creation. The results show that when deciding to engage in co-creation customers first consider the ability of the brand to innovate (brand innovativeness), followed by the relationship equity, customer-based brand equity and brand literacy. The present study is one of the first to empirically examine drivers of customer engagement in co-creation from the perspectives of innovativeness and customer equity drivers in an emerging market like China.