Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the antecedents and consequences of two distinct types of virtual co-creation behaviours that require different degree of effort from the customer, i.e. customer participation (CPB), and customer citizenship (CCB) behaviour, in a cross-cultural study.Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among members of online panels in the UK and Spain, reaching a sample of 800 online individuals who participate in online co-creation processes with fashion retailers. This design allows us to test the cross-cultural effects. Multi-group structural equations modelling was used to analyse the data.Findings: Virtual co-creation behaviours are driven by perceived ease-of-use of the co-creation platform, electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) quality and fashion involvement; however, the effects are different on CPB, affected by perceived ease-of-use more strongly, and on CCB, driven by e-WOM quality and fashion involvement more strongly. Higher level of co-creation increases satisfaction with co-creation, which mediates the effect on engagement and intention of future co-creation. The cross-cultural design reveals that most relationships hold in both countries, with the exception of the influence of fashion involvement on CPB, while some differences in the size of the effects appear between countries.Originality/value: This study contributes to increasing our knowledge on online co-creation in several ways. First, the authors investigate, in the online environment, two co-creation behaviours, CPB and CCB, and compare their antecedents. This paper provides a cross-cultural validation of the relationships between CPB and CCB’s antecedents and consequences, identifying the different effects due to culture.

Due to the rising level of global competition as well as a fast-growing number of innovations organizations are nowadays forced to find new ways to attract, gain and sustain loyal customers in order to stay competitive. Co-creation, the active involvement of customers in the process of new product and service development, has been identified as a reliable source of competitive advantage; however for most companies it still represents a challenge to find customers that are willing to openly cooperate and share their ideas and knowledge. This paper examines four different types of benefits derived from the Uses and Gratification approach motivating customers to participate in online co-creation activities. A pilot questionnaire and its practical applicability are being tested, confirming that customers’ participation is in fact stimulated by the four identified types of benefits and indicating that co-creators differ in their motivational levels. Finally, some recommendations on how to adapt the questionnaire for future research are given

Currently, many companies are abandoning multichannel and turning to a much more centralized model known as omnichannel, in order to gain a competitive advantage by integrating and optimizing different channels and thus the client has a unique experience. Within this context, the aim of this study is to analyse the omnichannel digital marketing strategies implemented by Spanish fashion and accessories companies in order to provide pleasant shopping experiences to their online consumers. To that end, a qualitative analysis has been carried out, specifically consisting of in-depth interviews conducted with marketing managers who implement digital strategies in their businesses to improve the online experience of consumers in an omnichannel context. From a practical perspective, this study can help inform companies' decision-making on how to best develop their consumers' omnichannel experience and, in consequence, improve consumers' behavioural responses such as personal participation, satisfaction and engagement with the firm.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have showed an exponential growth in the last years. The first step for an efficient use of SNSs stems from an understanding of the individuals' behaviors within these sites. In this research, we have obtained a typology of SNS users through a latent segmentation approach, based on the frequency by which users perform different activities within the SNSs, sociodemographic variables, experience in SNSs, and dimensions related to their interaction patterns. Four different segments have been obtained. The “introvert” and “novel” users are the more occasional. They utilize SNSs mainly to communicate with friends, although “introverts” are more passive users. The “versatile” user performs different activities, although occasionally. Finally, the “expert-communicator” performs a greater variety of activities with a higher frequency. They tend to perform some marketing-related activities such as commenting on ads or gathering information about products and brands as well as commenting ads. The companies can take advantage of these segmentation schemes in different ways: first, by tracking and monitoring information interchange between users regarding their products and brands. Second, they should match the SNS users' profiles with their market targets to use SNSs as marketing tools. Finally, for most business, the expert users could be interesting opinion leaders and potential brand influencers.