A meta-analysis of the relationship between customer participation and brand outcomes

Interest in the relationship between customer participation and brand outcomes has increased over the past few decades. However, research in this field has generated diverse and conflicting results. To study this diversity, in this meta-analysis, we converted and analyzed the effect sizes from 135 studies. We focused on common phenomena that have been analyzed in isolation. A model was created and analyzed through meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). Our results indicate that customers with a high propensity to trust have high levels of participation. Conversely, customer participation can promote brand outcomes, such as brand satisfaction, brand loyalty and brand performance. Our findings indicate that for these customer participation strategies to be more efficient, they should be based on cocreation actions, which generate the perception of value in customers and are aimed at customers in countries with a greater sense of collectivity.