Setback Disclosure as a Driver of Consumer Co-Creation
(A2026-134257)

AUTHORS

Seongun Jeon, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University/University of Bristol; Vaishnavi Kale, TBS Business School, Barcelona; Chi Hoang, ESCP Business School; Yanze Zhang, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

ABSTRACT

Brands increasingly seek to transform passive consumers into active value co-creators, yet little is known about how brand-initiated communication can elicit such consumer behaviour. Across four experiments, we show that setback disclosure, a strategy where brand narratives reveal past challenges, significantly increases consumer co-creation by enhancing perceived brand passion. This effect emerges across behavioral (idea contributions, financial investment) and attitudinal measures and is moderated by brand market performance and positioning: setback (vs. achievement) disclosure increases consumers’ value co-creation behaviour for high-performing and functionally positioned brands, but backfires for low-performing or aspirational brands. A large-scale archival analysis of 32,906 Kickstarter campaigns will test these effects in the field. Together, this research identifies a reputationally vulnerable yet powerful communication strategy that activates consumer collaboration