What does online participation mean in business?

Since the 80s, research into economics has focussed intensely on the question of which interest groups or stakeholders should be listened to by company management – and in which way (Freeman, 1984). These questions are frequently associated with the aim of establishing longevity in company management or of strengthening a company’s social or ecological responsibility (Carroll, 1979, 1991, 1999; Carroll & Buchholtz, 2006). Concentrating on the concerns of specific stakeholders facilitates the management task of understanding and addressing abstract social concerns (Clarkson, 1995). For companies, the traditional stakeholders include their customers, employees, shareholders, branches and local communities, also the public sector and media representatives (Hill & Jones, 1992; Post, Preston & Sachs, 2002).

Identifying and handling relevant stakeholders are based on a variety of perceptual filters (Pedersen, 2006). Different stakeholders may be apportioned different levels of importance, depending on a company’s identity, culture and strategy. In this, the vehemence with which the stakeholders express and put forward their interests is one influential factor. New media offer stakeholders new opportunities to become organised, to coordinate their activities, to formulate their interests and to make them known to the public at large – or to the companies in question. Therefore, as is the case within online participation in politics, it is fair to speculate whether new media prompt new forms of influence and participation in business affairs and thus produce a new, participative dynamism between companies and their stakeholders.

An analysis of pertinent literature shows that the question of online participation in business has not been dealt with in any depth. Among the studies identified, a large proportion (almost two thirds of the studies) focus on the relationship between companies and their customers. Hence, participation in business is viewed strongly within a marketing context. It follows therefore that the studies look at how new media can improve communication between providers and customers or indeed customer service itself, for instance by introducing interactive elements (Greve, 2011). These studies suggest that participation and interaction can indeed enhance customer satisfaction (Dabholkar & Sheng, 2012; Sashi, 2012).

User participation in business: BMW Innovation Lab Portal

Example 6: The „BMW Innovation Lab Portal“ enables users to communicate ideas for the development of new assistance systems and services directly to the provider.

A further noteworthy area of research extends beyond amelioration of customer management in the meaning of customer service and considers how to integrate customers within a company’s value creation process. It indicates that new media enable customer integration as early as in the development of new offerings, in the design of products and services, in structuring these offerings and also in their sales and marketing. This produces collaborative value creation processes that are also dealt with under the term „co-creation“ (Ramaswamy, 2008; Sawhney et al., 2005; Chaney, 2012). In this, the role of the consumer changes to involve stronger activation – at least in some senses the consumer becomes a producer. The English neologism coined for this idea is that of a „prosumer“, combining elements of „consumer“ and „producer“ (Hellmann, 2009). Understood in this way, participation in business moves beyond personalisation or customisation of offerings to suit customer wishes. Customers are given the tangible opportunity to become creatively and productively involved (Chang et al., 2009). The Creative participation in the development of new offerings is also discussed under the descriptor „open innovation“ (Buhl, 2008; Ramaswamy, 2008; Franquet et al., 2011).