Value Proposal Co-Creation in Online Community-Based Idea Contests

The purpose of this chapter is to examine why and how participants co-create value proposals in online community-based idea contests (OCBICs), following an open call by service organisations for participation. More specifically, we explore participant motivations, roles, and behaviours as they co-create service ideas that emerge as value proposals. We present a multiple case study of three OCBICs in the global automotive sector. All three OCBICs studied were developed by the same platform host but were otherwise distinct in design and implementation. The findings reveal three propositions in relation to value proposal co-creation in OCBICs: (1) participants are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to compete and collaborate to co-create value proposals in OCBICs, (2) participants iteratively adopt a number of diverse and overlapping roles when co-creating value proposals in OCBICs, and (3) participant behaviour in OCBICs involves complex negotiations of the contest rules enforced by the host organisation and the norms and values of the community. In order to optimise open service innovation, we conclude that service organisations need to provide participants in OCBICs with an appropriate combination of monetary and nonmonetary incentives and rewards, based on their motivation and expertise. This is one of the few studies to examine the co-creation of value proposals in the context of OCBICs in the global automotive sector.