Value co-creation in online communities: A preliminary literature analysis

Abstract

This research-in-progress paper provides some preliminary insights to scholars who intend to investigate value co-creation process within online communities. This contribution presents the results of a literature analysis using bibliometric data of 246 articles debating this specific topic. The analysis shows the main research areas discussing value co-creation issues within online communities, selecting and describing the main cited references. Moreover, using social network analysis tools, it was possible to recognize the main connection among the most cited references (co-citation analysis) and the most used keywords and the connections among them. This quantitative bibliographic analysis represents just the starting point of a literature analysis process. Further steps will aim at conducting a systematic literature review of ongoing debate on value co-creation within online communities and to propose and test a research model for investigating the determinants of value co-creation within online communities.