Consumer Participation in Co-creation: Investigating the Moderating Role of Empathy

 
Abstract
The current study explores one of the boundary conditions under which customers decide to engage in co-creation activities which is empathy. A sample of 103 participants were recruited and between-subjects experimental design with two groups (treatment vs. control) were employed. Hayes PROCESS model 1 were utilized for data analyses. The finding did not provide support for any of the empathy subscales as a moderator of the link between co-creation and both behavioral intentions and word of mouth communication intentions. Thus, regardless of the level of empathetic orientation an individual co-creation produces a positively strong direct impact on both behavioral intentions and word of mouth communication intentions. Future research should consider testing this link using different types of co-creation (e.g., co-creation for others) to provide deeper understanding on the role of empathy.