Hospitality employee and customer role in value co-creation: Personal, organizational and collaborative outcomes

Abstract

• Hospitality employees evaluate co-creation higher than customers. • Co-creation positively affects wellbeing, satisfaction, competitive advantage perceptions. • Customers value co-innovation, co-marketing, co-production, and co-recovery differently. • Co-created value is mediator among four co-creation types and outcomes for customers. • Employees do not differentiate among value co-creation types. With the growing frequency and importance of peer-to-peer service exchanges, the role of front-line employees for traditional hospitality service providers is changing. This study is the first to examine differences in value co-creation appraisal between front-line employees and customers. Respondents ( N = 720) were equally assigned to either an employee or customer role and performed that role for four different online co-creation scenarios based on destination resort context: co-innovation, co-creation of marketing, co-production, and co-recovery. The results of between-within online experimental design were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA and PLS-SEM. Co-created value was appraised significantly higher by employees and positively affected well-being, satisfaction, and competitive advantage for both employees and customers. Co-created value served as a mediator between the four types of co-creation and outcomes only for customers. The study contributes to understanding roles as knowledge-based resources in value co-creation and provides practical implications for successful value co-creation in hospitality.