Toward a Conceptualization and Measurement of Responsible Co-Creation in NPD

The growing emphasis on ethical and socially responsible innovation has led firms to rethink how value is created through collaboration in new product development (NPD). This current research conceptualized and empirically validated responsible co-creation as a process that integrates responsibility into co-creation and aligns innovation outcomes with ethical, social, and environmental values. Drawing on service-dominant logic, stakeholder theory, and the responsible innovation framework, three studies were conducted with co-creation-experienced NPD professionals: (1) Study 1a , a qualitative analysis of twenty NPD professionals, defined responsible co-creation along four dimensions: anticipation, reflexivity, inclusion, and responsiveness, (2) Study 1b , a pretest survey of 104 NPD professionals, refined the responsible co-creation measurement scale, and (3) Study 2 , a large-scale survey of 295 NPD professionals, validated the proposed conceptual model and examined the relationships among customer-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR), responsible co-creation, and perceived firm performance. The results showed that CSR was a key antecedent of responsible co-creation, which significantly enhanced perceived innovation and financial performance. This research advances the understanding of responsible innovation and co-creation by providing a validated responsible co-creation construct and demonstrating how responsibility can be embedded in NPD to promote ethical, sustainable innovation.