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Co-creation in undergraduate engineering programs: Effects of communication and student participation

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of participation and communication of students in co-creation within the context of Higher Education institutions. This co-creation approach is evaluated as an alternative in engineering education, being useful for leading the educational process, research activities, administration support, and the community-industry relationship. A previous literature review was carried out to identify the theoretical confirmation of the relationship between the identified parameters (communication, participation, and co-creation), and a questionnaire was applied to 325 engineering students from 12 Ecuadorian universities with the objective of studying their behavior toward collaborative practices. The principal statistical tools used were exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model. The results verify that engineering student participation and communication have a significant and positive influence on co-creation as a generator of student satisfaction, especially in the study context. A co-creation vision at higher education - from the perspective that students are the center of the learning process - reinforces the education quality principles in an innovative way. The article concludes with the different managerial implications of the study, including the effectiveness of creating participation and communication channels between the university and engineering students with the objective of promoting co-creation as a managerial alternative.