How User-to-User Co-Creation on Social Media Benefits Individuals During Times of Heightened Uncertainty

ABSTRACT Although social media use during times of high uncertainty (e.g. public health crises) can pose risks to user well-being, we suggest that co-creation among users can derive meaningful benefits for them under such circumstances. Drawing on the taxonomic framework of value co-creation and the DART model, our study investigated how social media environmental cues (i.e. user-to-system and user-to-user cues) could facilitate the user-to-user co-creation process and benefit users’ well-being. Through a two-phase online survey involving social media users in Australia, Canada, and the UK, we found that user-to-system and user-to-user cues promote access and transparency, which form the foundational elements of the co-creation process. In addition, we showed that dialogue and risk assessment—triggered by access and transparency—further contributed to psychological well-being and social connectedness. These results were relatively consistent across countries; slight variations emerged in the specific co-creation elements predicted psychological well-being. Our study advances the co-creation literature by elucidating how co-creation among users can be shaped by social media cues that support psychological well-being during times of heightened uncertainty and by unpacking the interdependence co-creation mechanisms within the DART model.