Co-creating value from knowledge-intensive business services in manufacturing firms: The moderating role of relationship learning in supplier–customer interactions

Abstract

This study seeks evidence for a positive moderating role of relationship learning in the relation between manufacturing firms' knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), i.e., product-related services for developing customized solutions, and firms' customer-specific sales performance. Our findings from a survey of 91 supplier–customer relationships indicate that KIBS offerings do not generate performance per se; instead, supplier–customer relationships must be characterized by relationship learning to co-create value from the supplier's KIBS offerings. Our findings extend the literature on industrial service businesses by shedding a more nuanced light on the core activities that enable value co-creation and value appropriation in the KIBS context.