Trying to prosume: toward a theory of consumers as co-creators of value

• Published in: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 109 - 122
• Main Authors: Xie, Chunyan, Bagozzi, Richard P., Troye, Sigurd V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.03.2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Marketing; Original Empirical Research; Social Sciences; Theory; Domain-specific values; Attitudes; The theory of trying; Value co-creation; Global values; Prosumption
• DOI: 10.1007/s11747-007-0060-2
• ISSN: 0092-0703

One important aspect in the service-dominant logic in marketing is the role of customers as co-creators of value. This role typically involves producing products for own consumption, i.e. what Toffler referred to as “prosumption.” This study explores the motivational mechanisms underlying people’s prosumption propensity. A theoretical framework that incorporates ideas from value research and attitude theory, specifically the “theory of trying” (Bagozzi and Warshaw in Journal of Consumer Research 17:127–140, 1990), is developed and tested in the empirical context of food prosumption. The results based on a survey of 380 households show that global values influence domain-specific values in food prosumption, and domain-specific values then affect attitudes, self-efficacy, and on-going behavior before ultimately shaping intentions to engage in prosumption in the future.