Abstract Consumers increasingly fulfil the role of co-creators by collaborating with producers in new product development. Communicating that the product has been co-developed with consumers tends to positively influence consumer perceptions. However, research remains limited regarding who should communicate this information, particularly in the case of food products where consumer perceptions largely depend on the trust in the producer and product information. This paper examines the influence of co-creation information communicated by a company vs. by co-creators (i.e. co-creating consumers) on two dimensions of trust in consumers acting as new food co-creators: perceived honesty and perceived competence. Furthermore, it investigates how this effect is moderated by respondents’ familiarity with co-creation as an innovation process. Respondents were presented with the same new food product concept in an online experimental survey with consumers (n = 697) divided into three experimental groups. One group served as the control group with no co-creation information provided. The other two groups were informed that the product was the result of a co-creation activity between the company and consumers, using two types of information communicator. In one group, the company communicated the information, whereas in the other group, it was communicated by the co-creators. Our findings suggest that who communicates the co-creation information matters if consumers are not familiar with co-creation. In this case, co-creators are more likely to facilitate general consumer trust in peer consumers as new food co-creators. This study provides valuable insights for food companies wanting to leverage the value of co-creation for innovation by selecting the information communicator depending on the level of co-creation familiarity in the target market.

中文翻译：

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检查消费者作为新食品共同创造者的信任：传播者重要吗？

摘要 消费者越来越多地通过与生产者合作开发新产品来履行共同创造者的角色。传达产品是与消费者共同开发的，往往会对消费者的看法产生积极影响。然而，关于谁应该传达这些信息的研究仍然有限，特别是在食品的情况下，消费者的看法在很大程度上取决于对生产者和产品信息的信任。本文研究了公司与共同创造者（即共同创造消费者）传达的共同创造信息对消费者作为新食品共同创造者的信任的两个维度的影响：感知诚实和感知能力。此外，它还调查了受访者对作为创新过程的共同创造的熟悉程度如何调节这种影响。在将消费者（n = 697）分为三个实验组的在线实验调查中，受访者被呈现了相同的新食品概念。一组作为对照组，不提供共创信息。其他两组被告知该产品是公司和消费者之间共同创造活动的结果，使用两种类型的信息传播者。在一组中，公司传达信息，而在另一组中，由共同创建者传达信息。我们的研究结果表明，如果消费者不熟悉共同创造，谁来传达共同创造信息很重要。在这种情况下，共同创造者更有可能促进一般消费者对作为新食品共同创造者的同行消费者的信任。