When customers select the winner: How marketing ideation crowdsourcing contests can foster customer engagement

Despite the pivotal role of winner-selection mechanisms in marketing ideation crowdsourcing contest (MICC), previous literature has not thoroughly examined how the profile of judges who select the winner impacts customer engagement. This research investigates how different winner-selection mechanisms in MICCs can foster customer engagement during the ideation phase and with the firm beyond the MICC itself. Thus, we explore how the "who" can vote for the best ideas influences customer engagement. In a field experiment run with a large European member-owned bank and an online experiment, we manipulate the profiles of the judges allowed to select the best idea. Our results demonstrate that when the voting process is open to all customers (as opposed to being restricted to some member-customers or to managers), it is perceived as more legitimate and indicative of better customer orientation by the firm. Consequently, this openness enhances both the quality of participants' ideas submitted during the ideation phase and customers' intentions to buy shares in the firm. These findings shed light on how firms should design MICCs to enhance customer engagement, both in the ideation process itself and with the firm in general.