Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to understand and explain how institutional change occurs at the level of value co-creation practices in service ecosystems. Despite the centrality of collective practices to the service ecosystems perspective, theoretically grounded explanations of how practices change and become institutionalized remain underdeveloped. Applying the theory of routine dynamics, this paper addresses two questions as follows: what does the institutional change mean at the level of value co-creation practices and what processes underlie these changes?Design/methodology/approachThe study develops a conceptual framework that characterizes value co-creation practices as routines involving three aspects, namely, ostensive, performative and artifactual. As a key element in institutional change, the interplay between these informs an account of institutional change processes in service ecosystems.FindingsThe proposed conceptual framework specifies the conditions for institutional change in terms of value co-creation routines. First, any such change is seen to be grounded in alignment between changing institutional rules and the ostensive, performative and artifactual aspects of routines. Second, this alignment is seen to emerge through a dialectics of planned and practice-based activities during institutional change. An empirical research agenda is proposed for the analysis of institutional change processes in different service ecosystems.Originality/valueThis conceptual framework extends existing accounts of how service ecosystems change through the contributions of multiple actors at the level of value co-creation practices.
Highlights
When multiple actors come together to create value, concerted action and interaction depend crucially on collective practices – ways of understanding, saying and doing things together (Schau et al, 2009)
As different change activities may influence routines in contradictory ways, the framework directs attention to the dialectics of change activities in institutional change processes. Such a dialectical view helps to explain how value co-creation practices change through the contributions of multiple actors in service ecosystems
Previous studies have suggested that open dialogue and non-predictive strategies can help central actors to shape service ecosystems (Mele et al, 2018); the present dialectical account extends this view by redirecting attention from single product/service development projects to the coordination of the various activities that contribute to institutional change
Summary
When multiple actors come together to create value, concerted action and interaction depend crucially on collective practices – ways of understanding, saying and doing things together (Schau et al, 2009). Many SDL studies associate innovation and change in service ecosystems with processes of institutional change, in which taken-for-granted rules are altered and resources and practices are recombined to develop novel solutions to new or existing problems (Vargo et al, 2015; Koskela-Huotari et al, 2016). These studies confirm that change processes of this kind involve various actors and activities and evolve in unforeseen ways (Meynhardt et al, 2016; Mele et al, 2018; Banoun et al, 2016). Received 24 June 2019 Revised 26 September 2019 9 January 2020 Accepted 18 January 2020
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