The Ways of Prosumers’ Knowledge Sharing with Organizations

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: [This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2018 issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, Volume 13] The main purpose of this paper is to identify ways of consumers’ knowledge sharing with business and public organizations. Background: Contemporary consumers do not wish to be passive consumers anymore. They want to satisfy their consumption needs by products’ evaluation, co-designing, co-creation and co-reconfiguration. They can do that by sharing their knowledge with enterprises and public organizations. Such consumers are named ‘prosumers’. Methodology: The research process included two stages. The first stage it was the survey among 388 prosumers. The second stage it was the online observation among 90 enterprises and public organizations. Contribution: This work contributes to extant research on utilizing consumers’ knowledge in business and public organizations by identifying and examining ways of consumers’ knowledge sharing with such organizations. Findings: It was found that there are differences between ways in which prosumers share knowledge with organizations and ways in which enterprises and public organizations engage them in knowledge sharing. Prosumers mainly share their knowledge with organizations by evaluating products, whereas organizations mainly engage prosumers in knowledge sharing by creating and designing products. In addition, enterprises more often engage prosumers in knowledge sharing than public organizations. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study provides practitioners with guidelines for prosumers’ knowledge utilization, especially helping them understand ways used by prosumers to knowledge sharing. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers may build on the findings of the current study to conduct further research on using customer knowledge in organizations using different subjects and research contexts. Future Research: This study only examines Polish prosumer and organizations operating in the Polish market. It is advisable to extend the research to other countries and compare results.