Investigating the effect of co-production intention and future participation intention on value co-creation intention in e-commerce: A case study of Kerman Science and Technology Park

Considering the conditions of the new era, the topic of two-way interactions and co-creation has become increasingly important to enhance service quality and maintain or create value for customers. As the end users of products and services, customers are the most valuable source of information and new ideas for business products and services. Customer participation in new product development is a way to listen to what customers want and respond to their needs. As a result, it helps to understand the obvious and hidden needs of customers and produce quality products according to customers' tastes. Although the participation of customers in production and service activities in the company's process is not a new concept, an analysis of the intention to co-produce and participate in the future can simultaneously influence the intention to co-create business value leading to business profit. It has not been investigated in the literature of marketing and information systems. It should be noted that co-production refers to the participation of customers in the product development process, while co-creation pays attention to the commitment of customers towards the product improvement process. In addition, an interesting field of special interest for studying value co-creation processes is e-commerce. The idea that customers and firm resources must be considered jointly to properly explain perceived value is attractive, especially in e-commerce. This type of business expresses the exchange of services with services, which leads to the integration of resources and the creation of common value. One of the main drivers in the knowledge-based economy is technological companies that provide a platform for the development of emerging technologies and create high-skilled employment. Science and technology parks are the institutions that support technological companies. Therefore, considering the existing research gap, the main question of the current research is how the intention of co-production and the intention of participating in the future of customers can simultaneously influence the intention of co-creating business value in the field of e-commerce. Another question is ‘will it affect technology companies based in Kerman Science and Technology Park?’

This research is applied in terms of its purpose. Because it describes the situation of the studied society through a field survey, it is classified as a descriptive-survey research. In order to collect the data and measure different dimensions of the model, a questionnaire was used. The statistical population of the research was all the managers and vice presidents of the technology companies based in Kerman Science and Technology Park. Due to their unlimited population in the year 2021, the desired sample was selected by a simple random sampling method. The sample of this research was 520 people. Cochran's formula was used to determine the sample size, and 221 people were selected. Finally, by adding to the sample size and many follow-ups, 230 acceptable questionnaires were examined. A 5-point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire. Due to the use of this standardized questionnaire, there was no need to confirm its content validity. In the current research, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. This was done using the SPSS software. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the whole questionnaire was 0.882. Because this value was higher than 0.7, it is concluded that the mentioned questionnaire has good reliability. In order to test the hypotheses and fit the proposed model, SPSS and SMART PLS were used, and the analysis of variance examined the statistical population.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the intention to co-create value in e-commerce. According to the managers and vice-presidents of the technology companies located in Kerman Science and Technology Park, Customer recognition and communication have positive and significant effects on the intention of joint production as well as customer experience (with the two dimensions of personalization and relative advantage). Also, customer empowerment affects the intention to participate in the future. Finally, the two variables of joint production intention and the intention to participate in the future have positive and significant effects on the intention of value co-creation.

In general, the findings of this research help to understand how co-production activities and customer participation in the business process create the possibility of increasing co-creation of value, which ultimately brings profitability to enterprises.