Managing Smart Service Ecosystems Through Technology: How ICTs Enable Value Cocreation

Abstract

Due to the recognized influence of technology on value cocreation (S-D logic), the work aims at applying service ecosystems view to the analysis of the tourism sector (redefined as smart tourism). The main goals of the study are: 1) to detect ICTs' active role in combining with the other ecosystems' elements (actors, resource integration, and institutions); 2) to investigate ICTs' integration in overall corporate and value cocreation strategies. The empirical research adopts a case study methodology and is based on interviews administered to 10 managers from the bed and breakfast (B&B) sector in Salerno. The results show that ICTs (in our sample) act as: 1) key levers to foster the dynamic integration of resources among actors based on the active reshaping of institutions, and 2) strategic tools to enhance value cocreation from predelivery to postdelivery. The findings reveal ICTs' influence on the main ecosystems' elements and on the dynamic integration among actors, knowledge exchange, and institutions. Therefore, the impact of technology on value cocreation practices, until now relatively unexplored from a practical point of view, is shown. Moreover, observing how managers in the sample employ ICTs in the different phases of delivery the work can provide significant insights on how the emergence of value cocreation can be fostered and monitored constantly. The work entails both theoretical and managerial implications. In the first place, it offers insights on the different kind of value cocreation practices fostered and generated using ICTs in business processes. In the second place, it sheds light on how managers can: optimize knowledge exchange to enable cocreation; monitor the emersion of cocreation in real time; and foster service improvement and innovation.