| Co-creation, which involves engaging large groups of people in making decisions, generating ideas, and creating content in online communities, is becoming increasingly popular among companies. However, discussions on co-creation for corporate social responsibility (CSR) are still at the conceptual and developmental levels. While traditional CSR communication is considered to be ineffective, the current study suggests CSR co-creation as a new way to conduct and communicate CSR. This dissertation explores three research problems regarding co-creation: what it is, when it works, and how it works. Thus, based on the literatures on organization-public dialogic communication (OPDC), endowment effect, and attribution, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of CSR co-creation and reveal the underlying logic of CSR co-creation that generates positive outcomes. OPDC as the theoretical background explains why participation in CSR co-creation would generate positive outcomes. Also, based on the attribution theory, the current research examines the boundary condition of when CSR co-creation works. Study 1 (n = 183) shows that CSR co-creation participation indeed increases positive attitudes toward the company/behavioral intentions through dialogic communication. Bringing co-creation literature into the corporate-level, the mediating role of dialogic communication becomes critical, as it induces feelings of ownership as well as affective commitment that in turn generate positive outcomes. Study 2 and Study 3 focus on the boundary conditions of co-creation effects. Study 2 ( n = 193) shows a company's inconsistent ethical behavior acts as a moderator that reduced CSR co-creation effects. With trust/distrust as a moderator, Study 3 (n = 282) clearly presents the conditional indirect effects of CSR co-creation through OPDC. The three experimental studies reported in this dissertation contribute to the literature of CSR co-creation and dialogic communication. Managerial implications are also discussed. |
