Is co-creation still an innovative innovation strategy across generations?

Abstract

Co-creation, the process of involving customers in the innovation process, has gained popularity in recent years as a way for companies to tap into customer knowledge, skills, and insights and to create value for both the company and their customers. Co-creation as an innovation strategy has already been used for many years. However, the extent to which co creation is still perceived as an innovative innovation strategy among younger generations has not been researched. This paper aims to review the literature on co-creation and innovation to answer the question: Is co-creation still perceived as an innovative innovation strategy? A systematic review of the literature was conducted, and the results suggest that co-creation is still perceived as an innovative innovation strategy. In order to test the differences in perceptions between generations, a survey was conducted to test these possible differences. Our study found that younger generations have still higher perceptions of innovation ability, perceive higher trust in companies and their products, and have higher quality perceptions of products which result from a co-creation strategy. The study also found that the level of digital literacy of consumers has a partial influence on these perceptions. Further research is needed to more fully understand the factors that influence the perceived innovativeness of co creation and to identify best practices for implementing co-creation as an innovation strategy.

Date of Award	31 Jan 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)