Abstract:

The success of product innovations introduced to the market depends on many different factors, among which two seem particularly important. The first is the degree to which a given product innovation meets the expectations of its customers, and the second is the level of consumer innovativeness. Wanting to build and maintain a competitive advantage, companies around the world are increasingly engaging customers in value co-creation, which should lead to the introduction of products to the market that better meet the needs of customers. In the subject literature, a lot of research has been devoted to topics of both consumer innovativeness and customer engagement in value co-creation, but there are few studies that show the (possible) relationship between them. Therefore, the main goal of the article is to supplement knowledge in this area by empirical recognition of the relationship between consumer innovativeness and their level of engagement in co-creating the offer with enterprises. The research part of the article presents the process of segmentation of the inhabitants of the Poznañ agglomeration due to their innovativeness and shows the relationship between innovativeness and the predispositions and behaviours of the respondents towards engaging in value co-creation with enterprises. The study was conducted by means of direct interviews using an interview questionnaire, on a sample of 795 inhabitants of the Poznañ agglomeration, and its results confirm the hypothesis of the existence of a clear relationship between consumer innovativeness and engagement in value co-creation.