In recent years, many companies have established virtual customer environments (VCEs) that offer facilities ranging from online discussion forums to virtual product design centers to partner with their customers in product development and product support activities. In this study, we focus on one form of VCE, online customer forums, and propose that the relevance of four distinct theoretical perspectives–social capital theory, social exchange theory, involvement, and social identity theory–to explaining customer participation will be contingent on the nature of the customer contribution context, that is, whether the contributions are to the customer community (through product support) or to the company (through product ideation). We propose a model suggesting that customers' prosocial behavior and expectations of private rewards will shape contributions to the community, whereas their perceived innovation partnership with the company and expectations of private rewards will shape a contribution to the company. We also contend that these effects will be moderated by customers' identification with the community and with the company. Our empirical findings offer support for the model and indicate that online customer forums (and more broadly VCEs) should be tailored to fit the nature of customer contribution sought. Implications for research and practice in customer co-innovation, online peer-to-peer communities, and customer relationship management are discussed.
