I heard that a second-hand product was co-created. Shall I buy it?

: the role of customer trust and personal norms in the purchase intentions of second-hand products

Abstract

It is urgent to adopt sustainable practices to answer the environmental consequences we are now facing. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the product and individual characteristics that lead customers’ positive attitudes toward sustainability to concrete actions. The novelty of this research comes from the perspective of how co-creation fosters purchase intentions of second-hand products. Two studies were developed based on the second-hand furniture market and using the furniture retailer IKEA. The first aimed to understand the users’ preferences and motivations to choose second-hand. The second study followed an experimental design in which second-hand products were redesigned and co-created with the community or only redesigned by the company. Along with the higher preference for first-hand products, in the first study, we show that purchase intentions for second-hand products are indirectly affected by the perceived quality and social norms through customer trust and personal norms, respectively. From study 2, we concluded that co-creation moderates the effect of customer trust and personal norms on purchase intentions, and that different collaborators in the co-creation process influence the results. Co-creation promotes higher purchase intentions for customers with lower levels of customer trust and/or personal norms. The research results give relevant insights for strategies to increase the purchases of second-hand products, highlighting mediators and moderators who play a role in customer decision-making

Date of Award	4 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Costa (Supervisor)