This document summarizes a presentation on managing angry community members in co-creation projects. The presentation addresses why community members may engage in negative word-of-mouth, and how community managers and companies should respond to antagonism. It also reviews literature on the co-creation experience, word-of-mouth, and conflict management. As a case study, it examines a design contest where some members became disappointed and critical. The presentation concludes that rightfully managing such situations can lead to a positive perception of co-creation, and that crisis management approaches need to be adopted for co-creation communities.

1. Special Interest Group Virtual Stakeholder Dialogue In Interactive Marketing
39th EMAC Conference, Copenhagen
June 3rd, 2010
The Dark Side of Co-Creation
How to deal with angry community members?
Johannes Gebauer
Dr. Johann Füller
Innsbruck University School of Management

2. Research Problem
How to deal with angry community members?
I am EXTREMELY disappointed with this contest : (
Send complaints to SPAR: presse@spar.at or office@spar.at
mbo
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

3. Research Problem
Co-creation communities as approach to integrate enthusiastic
consumers into a company’s value creation processes for example into
new product development activities and marketing
(Füller 2010, Ogawa and Piller 2006, Nambisan and Nambisan 2008)
Designs, Insights
PR & Designs Marketing New Products
& Recruiting
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

4. Research Problem
Interacting with consumers can be risky
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

5. Research Questions
• For what reasons engage members of co-creation communities in
negative word-of-mouth due to disappointing experiences in the co-
creation process?
• How should community managers and affected companies react on
antagonism from a co-creation community in order to avoid damage
for the brand’s reputation?
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

6. Literature Review
The co-creation experience
• Users engage in virtual co-creation activities as they expect the participation to be rewarding for
them. (Füller 2010, von Hippel 2005a).
• Decisional control provides the user with a feeling of competence and leads to the perception of
the co-creation activity as a compelling experience. (Mathwick and Rigdon 2004)
• Consumers who co-create new products may become interested and attached to the product
as they become more familiar with it. (Belk 1988)
• They may even build some sort of relationship with the product, even before it is available on
the market yet. (Schlosser 2003)
• Enjoyable experience in co-creation have a positive influence on the participant’s attitude
towards the brand. (Methwick and Rigdon 2004)
• The enjoyable and rewarding experience also contributes to a positive customer relationship
and enforces customer retention. (Berry and Carbone 2007, Meyer and Schwager 2007, Pine
and Gilmore 1999)
• Participants of co-creation projects believe that companies are genuine and that they can be
trusted while enjoying their participation (Bagozzi and Dholakia 2006, Dholakia, Bagozzi and
Klein Pearo 2004, Schouten, McAlexander and Koenig 2007)
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

7. Literature Review
Word of mouth (WOM) in online communities
• WOM is a form of socially sharing one’s emotions. (Wetzer et al. 2007)
• People tend to articulate these emotions more likely to peers than to strangers. (Blodgett,
Granbois & Walters, 1993)
• Users tend to share positive and negative experiences with others if the topic is important to
them and they consider it also of interest to others. (East, Hammond and Wright 2006, Smith
et al. 2007)
• Users who post negative comments such as complaints and even defamation have had
negative experiences that usually go beyond sheer product failure and cause emotions such
as anger, frustration or irritation. (Wetzer, Zeelenberg and Pieters 2007).
• Posting negative consumer information on the Internet is a planned and effortful activity.
(Ward et al. 2002)
• WOM on the Internet is relevant for the brand image as negative WOM on the Internet has a
strong influence on offline WOM. (Brown et al. 2007)
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

8. Literature Review
Conflict Management
• Effective management of crisis as well as customer complaints is important for the
wellbeing of organizations. (e.g. Pearson and Clair 1998, Ulmer 2001, Fink 1989, Tan, Pan
and Lim 2005).
• Poor solicitation, handling, and analysis of complaints inevitably lead to substantial negative
consequences for a company such as unfavorable customer post-complaint reactions
like word of mouth. (Homburg and Fürst 2007)
• Rich and positive communication relationships with stakeholders on an ongoing basis are
important for crisis preparation as pre-crisis communication has a significant impact on the
perception and effectiveness of post-crisis communication. (Ulmer 2001)
• Consistency in the communication in order to reduce uncertainty, promptness in the
reaction and a clear determination and discussion of the responsibilities from the
organization’s perspective are important strategies for successful conflict management. (Ulmer
2001, McCole 2004)
• Admitting failures is unavoidable required in case it is to the point. (Coombs and Holladay
2008)
• Corporations also have the right to speak out and to challenge inaccurate and/or misleading
media coverage when their viability is threatened. (Hearit 1996)
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

9. Method
• Exploratory approach
• Single Case Study Research (Engelhardt 1989, Yin 2008)
• Case: SPAR Bagdesign Contest (Online Design Contest; Bretschneider et al.
2007, Piller and Walcher 2006, Walcher 2007)
• Data:
– online discussion on the web platform
– system data base (user, designs, comments, evaluations)
– email correspondence (community management)
• Researchers were engaged in the case as community managers (Action
Research; Baskerville et al. 2004; Susman et al. 1978)
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

10. SPAR Bag Designcontest
• online design contest for shopping
bags
• 8th of June – 27th of July 2009
• 5.382 bag designs
• 2.506 members
• 56.873 community evaluations
• 11.970 comments
• 558.891 page views
• 338.720 minutes residence time
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

11. Functionalities in the online design contest
Design overview Design upload
Community Detailed Design view with user
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

12. Designs from the contest
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

13. Jury Meeting
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

14. Results
For what reasons engage members of co-creation communities in negative
word-of-mouth due to disappointing experiences in the co-creation process?
• Participant of co-creation activities can become frustrated when the expected
outcome is inhibited (Berkowitz 1978)
• Perceived loss of control leads to a feeling of powerlessness and discomfort.
(Bandura 1997)
• Anger, frustration, and irritation seem to be related to negative WOM for goals of
venting and taking revenge (Wetzer et al. 2007)
Irritation Frustration
“Absolutely rediculous !!! this is no.: 1 ?!?! “I am EXTREMELY disappointed with this
Was the jury drunk??? rakete “ contest : ( mbo “
“what a joke...Im really disappointed...
“ehm, I don’t get it! Lame words set in Anne94“
verdana.And this bag will be printed 1 million
times? ralle “
Revenge
“Send complaints to SPAR: presse@spar.at or
office@spar.at mbo“
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

15. Results
How should community managers and affected companies react on
antagonism from a co-creation community in order to avoid damage for the
brand’s reputation?
• A sound relationship with the community and a basis for justification (e.g. Terms
& Conditions of the contest) need to be built within the scope of pre-crisis
communication in order to be able to effectively manage critical incidents.
• Communication must be immediate, consistent and transparent in order to
display awareness, retain trust and to provide a feeling of control to the
community members.
• Determination and acceptance of responsibilities is a crucial aspect in the
communication with critical community members.
• The community management is required to act fair but self confident.
“Can you believe this setup of a competition? “Hey bob, we did not block you - you can post
They blocked me as mbo from posting any as much as you want as mbo, billybob, bob,
comments & even threatened me with an bobby, bobbilly or whatever bobdude you feel
email. PLEASE SEND COMPLAINTS ABOUT like. Please do not double post, that's it.
THIS CONTEST TO SPAR: presse@spar.at or diplomod”
office@spar.at bob”
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

16. Conclusion
1. There is a dark side to co-creation.
Antagonism of users in co-creation projects must not be ignored and indicates a necessity to act. Rightful
management of critical situations in an online community can lead to a positive perception of the co-creation
project.
2. Co-Creation communities are relevant stakeholders of organizations.
The relationship of co-creation communities respectively its members with the company initiating the co-
creation activity is characterized by equality. The according communication differs substantially from a one-to-
many approach. E.g. Companies who engage co-creation communities have to accept different, also negative
opinions.
3. Approaches in crisis management theory need to be adopted for co-creation communities.
Helpful approaches for managing critical issues such as the regarded case have been developed. Co-creation
activities such as online idea contests require an adoption of these approaches to the process of collaborative
creation and the online format.
Outlook
• Improvement of co-creation methods based on the discussed findings
• Further investigation of negative aspects of co-creation
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation

17. Thank you for your attention!
Johannes Gebauer
Dr. Johann Füller
Department of Strategic Management,
Marketing and Tourism
Innsbruck University School of Management
Universitätsstraße 15, 6020 Innsbruck
email: johannes.gebauer@hyve.de
Johannes Gebauer and Johann Füller - The dark side of co-creation