The impact of sellers' social influence on the co-creation of innovation with customers and brand awareness in online communities

• We examine the impact of online social influence on co-innovation practices in B2B markets.
• We examine the impact of co-innovation practices on brand awareness in B2B markets.
• Co-innovation is affected by sellers' social identify and social comparison in B2B markets.
• Implementing co-innovation practices in online communities can raise firms' brand awareness.
• Sellers focusing on promoting their own products do not boost brand awareness

This study integrates theoretical concepts adopted from social influence theory, co-creation practice, and brand equity into a single model by examining the role of social comparison and social identity in co-creation activities in an online community context, which is known to affect firms' brand awareness in the Business-to-Business (B2B) marketplace. The model was tested using a dataset gathered via an online survey of four online communities discussing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) related issues in LinkedIn. Empirical findings from our survey of 190 business professionals indicate that sellers' social identity and social comparison are key facilitators for developing a series of co-innovation activities, and confirmed that co-innovation practices make potential customers more aware of company brands. The results of this study provide new insights into effective B2B social media marketing techniques by elaborating how best to orchestrate co-innovation with online communities to boost brand awareness.