Relationship glue: Customers and marketers co-creating a purchase experience

Co-creation occurs when a customer works together with a marketer to create a consumption experience that adds value to the purchase process. Although authors have proposed this idea before, this research reports the first empirical support. The research instrument first exposes different respondents to scenarios that differ in the extent of co-creation present whilst retaining exactly the same eventual purchase outcome. Then the research variables (Co-creation, Trust, Satisfaction, Relationship strength, and Loyalty) are measured. A structural equation model provides positive support for the hypothesized relationships, where co-creation does indeed strengthen the relationship through increasing levels of satisfaction and trust.