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<strong>Fostering</strong> <strong>cooperation</strong> on the Internet: social exchange processes ininnovative virtual consumer communitiesAbstractVirtual communities of consumers increasingly engage in voluntary collaborative production ofdigital goods and services which became highly successful in recent years. This paper offers atheoretical conceptualization and empirical evidence of the key elements and processes ofexchange in those communities. Within a culture of gift-giving and generalized social exchange,knowledge as the main resource of the community is multiplied by giving it away freely to othersand thus, fosters contribution behavior. Friendship, peer reputation and external feed-backprovided by a global user community represent highly motivating social rewards which,combined with individual gain of knowledge, constitute a self-sustaining system of exchange.2
<strong>Fostering</strong> <strong>cooperation</strong> on the Internet: social exchange processes in innovativevirtual consumer communitiesINTRODUCTIONThere is wide agreement in marketing literature that creating value for customers is at the core ofthe marketing effort (Kotler, 1997). Whereas – until recently - most marketing research explicitlyor implicitly has restricted value-creation to innovation, production and delivery processes ofproducts and services by organizations, there is increasing academic discourse aboutconsumption as a value-creating activity (Tzokas and Saren, 1997; Holbrook, 1994; Holt, 1995;Firat and Venkatesh, 1995; Gummesson, 1998). It has been argued that consumers’ involvementin value creating activities is still underestimated and constitutes a gap in marketing theory(Tzokas and Saren, 1997). Remarkable exceptions can be found especially in the relationship andservices marketing literature (Kelley et al., 1990; 1992; Schneider and Bowen, 1995; Wikström,1996; Bettencourt, 1997) as well as in lead-user research (von Hippel, 1988; 1998; Lakhani andvon Hippel, 2000). However, the possibilities of customers for joint value creation as a coproduceris limited to the characteristics of the product or service and to their own unique meansof value creation in their own domain. The rapid growth of new communication technologies haschanged these limitations dramatically and “new possibilities are emerging that did not existbefore.” (Firat and Venkatesh 1995, p.239). On the Internet information and digital goods, suchas music or software are easily and inexpensively accessible for consumers. Moreover, it allowsconsumers to engage in social interaction with other consumers, exchanging information andcollectively creating knowledge. Consumers increasingly engage in collaborative production of3
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Page 31 and 32: Ekeh, Peter P. (1974). Social Excha
Page 33: Rheingold, Howard (2000). The Virtu

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