Co­creation

: a strategy to reduce guilt and increase consumers’ intention to purchase hedonic products

Abstract

Consumers make several purchasing decisions every day. In this decision­making process, consumers often have to decide between a hedonic or utilitarian product. However, despite preferring the hedonic alternative, consumers often choose the option with the highest utilitarian attributes. This paradoxical decision is due to feelings of guilt present in hedonic consumption. This dissertation shows that co­creation serves as a mechanism to mitigate guilt that favorably influences purchase intentions of hedonic goods. The level of guilt felt byconsumers is lessened due to perceived source similarity that enhances social identification and, thus, positive attitudes towards the co­created product. Two studies tested these effects. The first study aimed to assess the presence of guilt in hedonic consumption. The results showed that participants would feel more guilt after purchasing the hedonic good compared to the utilitarian one, as argued in the literature. The second study analysed whether co creation was a guilt­reducing tool. Results showed that source similarity effect positively influenced consumers’ purchase intentions in products that triggered higher feelings of guilt after purchase (hedonic). Our findings provide evidence for the moderating effect of perceived similarity on the mediated relationship between hedonic consumption and purchase intention. Furthermore, the study showed that participants are more willing to buy the (hedonic) product when learning that the product was co­created. This study contributes to the literature on hedonic consumption by identifying a new mechanism for guilt attenuation in hedonic consumption. Managerial implications such as the competitive advantage that arises with co­creation are also discussed.

Date of Award	17 Oct 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)