Online or offline environment for co-creating food products – final purchasers' preferences vs their readiness to cooperate with offerors

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of the article is identifying the hierarchy of products that final purchasers are ready to co-create with offerors and defining the place that food products occupy in this hierarchy in the context of the preferred environment for cooperation.Design/methodology/approachStriving to fill the cognitive and research gap identified during the analysis of the world literature was the basis for the survey, which included 1,196 representatives of adult final purchasers in Poland. The primary data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using the following methods: average grade analysis, comparative analysis, exploratory factor analysis and the Kruskal–Wallis (KW) test.FindingsThis study found that the respondents would like to co-create food products which ranked third among the analyzed groups of products with offerors. Most respondents preferred the parallel use of the online and offline environments as places of cooperation with offerors. Among the total of respondents and the respondents who preferred the internet as an environment for cooperation, a group of people willing to participate in the creation of food products was identified. In both cases, these groups were characterized by the fact that their members were not ready to co-create other groups of products at the same time. Food products were one of the two groups of products for which the preferred environment for cooperation turned out to be a statistically significant feature differentiating the responses regarding what products the respondents would like to co-create with offerors.Originality/valueThe scope and the approach proposed in this article testify to its originality. So far, the preferences of final purchasers regarding (1) product groups, including food, that they would like to co-create with offerors and (2) the environment for cooperation with offerors have not been studied. Ipso facto, the significance of this environment for preferences related to products that purchasers would be ready to co-create has not been investigated. Conclusions drawn on the basis of the results of the research constitute a valuable contribution to the theory of marketing and the theory of behavior, related especially to the joint creation of food products. The results are characterized by high application value, making it easier for offerors to take actions better suited to the preferences of active final purchasers.