... to examine consumer responses to combinations of text descriptions and pictures of co-creating consumers. Design/methodology/approach An experimental study used a reference group perspective to explain non-participating consumer responses to communications about co-creation with consumers in new product...

..., at least in part, by the reference groups who use it (Escalas and Bettman, 2005); outside adoption can result in not only a failure to convey uniqueness but also the dilution of brand meaning (Berger and Heath, 2007). Consumers seek differentiation from tastes held by groups to which they do not belong...