Evolution of motivation in co-creation: Recruit, retain and complete in a project on new food product co-creation

The study explores the motivation of consumers to join and participate in new product co-creation, distinguishing between recruitment before, retainment during and finalizing of a co-creation project. The research is based on follow-up interviews with participants in a project covering the initial stages of new food product development (i.e., idea generation, idea screening and concept development) involving older consumers and carried out in a physical environment. Different motivation factors were deemed important by consumers before, during and at the closure of the project. Consumers joined the project motivated by curiosity and desire to meet new people. While performing the creative tasks, they continued the engagement due to the positive anticipation and enjoyment of new activities, as well as positive feedback loops. At the closure of the project, the usefulness of outcomes and the received recognition became important and strengthened the perceived creative self-efficacy of participants. The findings offer useful recommendations for organizers of co-creation, enabling the recruitment and retainment of consumers who could successfully deliver creative outputs and complete the project. The study offers novel insights relevant to participatory innovations looking at the temporal dimension of motivation to co-create and highlights the dynamic changes in salience of the motivation factors.