Exploring the Motivation of Living Lab Participants for Continuous Co-creation

Living Lab is a co-creation approach receiving attention because of its different advantages compared to the traditional system development process as well as in the HCI field. In this study, we focused on the motivation of the participants to join the team activities in the living labs for continuous co-creation. In particular, we conducted a questionnaire asking about the motivation of the participants of Shunan Living Lab and Yamaguchi Living Lab in Japan. The coding and classification of the free descriptions clarified the seven important motivational factors. Moreover, we indicated the different motivations due to the background of the participants, such as students, working adults in the public, private, and education sectors, which LL they are joining, and the teams they belong to. Furthermore, we conducted a depth interview asking how their motivation and team’s motivation changed. Through the interview, the motivation and expectations to enhance their motivation were explicitly different between students and working adults. Finally, we indicated three points as the implications to the living lab organizers, especially in Japan; creating occasions to interact with each other, taking different approaches depending on the background of the participants, and encouraging prototyping in teams.