Chapter 5. Four decades of engaging customers in product innovation

Customer co-creation has been an increasingly discussed concept within the innovation field in recent years. This study traces the development of this concept since it first appeared in 1976. By conducting content analysis of 588 academic articles and case studies, the evolution of the concept of customer co-creation has been properly depicted. Alongside the elaboration of this evolution, related issues such as the complexity and the conceptualization of types of customer values are also discussed.