Sustainable Value Co-creation Research Articles

On the reconfiguring value creation logic and networks of the forest sector in a changing business environment

Numerous phenomena, such as sustainability challenges and the increasing importance of knowledge and digitalisation, have tremendous impacts on the global socio-economic system. These phenomena affect the dynamic and complex business environment where different actors from various sectors interact with each other. Responding to the phenomena and changes in the business environment calls for a systemic change in the ways that value-creating activities are performed. One suggested systemic change is a transition to a sustainable circular bioeconomy. Changes in the business environment pressure established business sectors, such as the forest sector, to reconfigure their networks and value creation logic, i.e., the ways in which actors co-create value. In this dissertation I investigated how the value creation logic of the forest sector changes when entering the sustainable circular forest-based bioeconomy. The research design followed a qualitative theory-guided interdisciplinary case study strategy. I analysed scientific and non-scientific documents to determine the past and currently occurring adaptations within the forest industry’s value creation logic. I conducted interviews to identify the possible future value creation logic of forestry service providers and the readiness of forest owners to respond to the occurring changes. According to the findings, the forest sector’s value creation logic is incrementally changing towards holistically sustainable, collaborative and cross-sectoral value co-creation logic. The sector has been able to reconfigure its networks and value creation logic in the past and it seems that the sector’s actors have understood the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and intangible resources in the sustainable value-creating activities. They have acknowledged that their attitudes and actions will affect the future value creation within the sector. To reach holistic sustainability, actors need to consider the whole forest ecosystem as a capital and a resource base from where value and benefits for the common good are co-created in a forest-based sector.

Research on the Mechanism of Collaborative Value Co-Creation of Enterprise–Science Community: A Case Study Based on the Green Brand Maoduoli

With the rapid increase of market competition pressure, enterprises’ collaborative innovation plays a more prominent role in competitive advantage. This paper aims to explore how the enterprise–science community can achieve sustainable collaborative value co-creation. Taking the Maoduoli Group as a sample, using the single case study method and grounded theory, a structural model of the enterprise–science community collaborative value co-creation mechanism is constructed. The proposed model is based on the value logic of “advocating value—creating value—delivering value—acquiring value”, which explains how the enterprise–scientific community collaborative value co-creation model is formed, how it is implemented, how it is delivered to customers, and the overall process of jointly harvesting value at last. The findings are as follows: First, government support, market demand, and entrepreneurial spirit are the internal and external factors for the enterprise–science community to develop collaborative value co-creation; secondly, the synergy mechanism of the enterprise–science community is to realize mutual activities such as joint research and development, a joint publication of papers, sharing of research results, joint research and development activities, and joint teaching practice through means of capital investment, concept support, and technical support. Third, the synergy mechanism of the enterprise–science community can realize the value of the economic and scientific research and the ecological and social benefits (narrow sense), and continuously feed back to further promote a deeper level of collaborative value co-creation of the enterprise–science community. This paper introduces the dimension of the scientific community, forms a special construct, and focuses on the collaborative value co-creation model of the enterprise–scientific community, which fills the gap in this research direction, and also provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the collaborative value co-creation model of the enterprise–scientific community.

Blockchain digital technology empowers E-commerce supply chain sustainable value co-creation decision and coordination considering online consumer reviews

From the perspective of value co-creation, this study adopted Stackelberg game theory to construct traditional e-commerce supply chain and BOCR technology e-commerce supply chain, their optimal decisions and profits are solved under decentralized and centralized decision-making. We anatomized the influence of key factors and compared different models. Then we proposed the investment decision condition, cost-sharing and profit-sharing contract to achieve coordination, then validated conclusions via numerical simulation. Findings: When the producer’s attention to consumer value increases, under decentralized decision-making, optimal sales price and service level decrease, the producer’s optimal profit increases, while the e-commerce platform’s optimal profit will first increase, then decrease; under centralized decision-making, optimal sales price decreases, and optimal service level and overall optimal profit increase. Under decentralized decision-making, in the traditional e-commerce supply chain, optimal decisions and profits first increase, then decrease with increased misrepresentation in favorable product ratings; in the BOCR technology e-commerce supply chain, members can optimize costs and increase profits by extracting more valuable information. The optimal sales price and service level show different size relationships with production cost changes. When investment costs meet specific conditions, using BOCR technology can make members more profitable. The cost-sharing and profit-sharing contract enables e-commerce coordination.

Towards sustainable value creation in Polish health resorts

The creation of sustainable value is one of the compelling issues in contemporary scientific research in management. Due to the diverse actors involved and the numerous research contexts, both in management theory and business practice, value creation paradigms are still primarily studied in economic, social, and environmental dimensions. However, the ecological context appears to be an essential but controversial area of analysis, raising questions about the role of the natural environment and its resources in modern businesses and communities. The article aims to present the complexity of the issues of cooperation, creation, and co-creation of sustainable value in Polish health resorts. The article is divided into two major sections: the theoretical part of the article contains an overview of the main concepts and problems related to the creation and co-creation of sustainable value. In the empirical part, case studies present two examples of small Polish health resorts where sustainable value co-creation takes place.

Exploring modes of sustainable value co-creation in renewable energy communities

The renewable energy transition has prompted research into what business models in the transforming energy sector can look like. One key development of the spread of renewable energy technologies has been the emergence of citizens as engaged stakeholders in the energy transition through so-called energy communities. Energy communities, whether initiated by citizens, the private sector, or municipality, have the opportunity to leverage the engagement and skills of “energy citizens” in order to create sustainable value for the environment and community. We explore sustainable value co-creation between citizens and other stakeholders in the setting of the Positive Energy District (PED), a particular type of energy community. This leads us to analyze PEDs through the lens of business models for sustainability, using a stakeholder theory approach, as a way to understand how different stakeholders contribute to the overall sustainability goal of the community. In particular, we focus on the many roles citizens can play and extent in which they can be involved in value co-creation. We conclude that PEDs are polycentric business models in themselves wherein vision-holding stakeholder guide the dynamics of the PED ecosystem. Our findings point to further potential opportunities for sustainable value co-creation in PEDs and similar settings and open questions as to what extent citizens should be integrated into business models operating in such settings.

Sustainability in the beer and pub industry during the COVID-19 period: An emerging new normal

The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for the British pub industry, due to the uncertain conditions caused by the virus, changes in consumption patterns and government measures. Studies recommend that organisations adopt innovative and flexible business models to generate added value for customers and other stakeholders as a survival and growth strategy. However, such measures require business ecosystems which encourage co-creative engagement. This qualitative study extends the concept of value co-creation beyond its current boundary as a customer-driven experiential paradigm, reconceptualising it as a driver for societal benefits. Over the period March – December 2020, we carried out in-depth interviews with pub and brewery owners, managers, and customers, combined with netnographic and offline observations of pubs’ engagement with customers. We uncovered three stages of strategies and innovation during this period, which we term ‘survive’, ‘secure’, and ‘sustain’. We demonstrate how multiple stakeholders benefit from the innovations of pubs and breweries negotiating each stage, advancing current scholarship on sustainable value co-creation.

Sustainable value co-creation as a vector for valuation brand equity

La co-création de valeur durable a un rôle crucial dans les pratiques de développement durable des entreprises, la nécessité d’une meilleure compréhension des conséquences de cette collaboration entre l’entreprise et ses clients est toujours d’actualité et nous renvoie à l’étude de son intérêt et de ses conséquences. Cette recherche vise à examiner l’impact des actions de co-création durable sur la réputation et le capital marque de l’entreprise. C’est dans ce sens que nous entreprenons cette recherche pour montrer dans quelle mesure le développement durable peut contribuer à améliorer la notoriété et l’image de marque de l’entreprise ? Une étude quantitative a été menée auprès de 84 clients « co-créateurs de valeur durable » dans le cadre d’une action menée par une société de services. Les résultats de cette recherche ont révélé que la co-création de valeur durable est un antécédent de la réputation de l’entreprise et a une influence positive sur celle-ci. De son côté, la réputation influence le capital de la marque. La relation entre ces deux variables est positivement influencée par la crédibilité de la marque. C’est en ce sens, que d’un point de vue managérial, cette recherche aidera les professionnels à mieux comprendre et anticiper les réactions comportementales des consommateurs co-créateurs en les invitant à participer au développement durable. Par ailleurs, le consommateur recherche un lien social dans le processus de co-création, il est donc important, pour l’entreprise, de le placer au centre de l’activité de co-création de valeur pour qu’il soit plus satisfait. Impliqué dans l’action il peut, ainsi, mieux juger l’entreprise.

Sustainable Value Co-Creation in Mobile Advertising in Cellular Telecommunication Industry: A Conceptual Framework

The growth of Mobile Internet services has changed the paradigm of telecommunication consumers from information- oriented toward social to communication- oriented. This change makes customers as part of the digital society, especially in Mobile Advertising services. Along with this change and the requirement for the company to win the competition, telecommunication providers must develop a business model of Mobile Advertising as a 'stage' that is easily accessible to all interested customers to this facility. In the concept of Service Dominant Logic, the company has no longer as a full control of value creation, but it must involve the customer in the process of value co-creation. The purpose of this research is to understandnding the landscape of Mobile Advertising services in telecommunication industry, understanding the existing model that can be build a model of Mobile Advertising services in the telecommunication industry, and understanding Mobile Advertising will influence on the value co-creation of the brand and corporate image. The research method using survey, exploratory, and systematic review. The research develops a model from the model of attributes and benefits of online community, model Consumer Engagement, model Attitude Toward Online Ads and model of Click Through Rate (CTR). Keywords: value co-creation, mobile advertising, consumer engagement, attitude toward online ads, click through rate (CTR)

Shaping a Smart Transportation System for Sustainable Value Co-Creation

The smart transportation system (STS) leverages ubiquitous and networked computing to improve the efficiency of urban mobility. Whilst existing IS work has explored various factors influencing STS development, there is a lack of consideration of how value can be created for building a more sustainable STS. Drawing upon the value co-creation theory and stakeholder theory, we seek to understand the socio-technical shaping of the STS ecosystem and how government, firms and citizens collaboratively create sustainable value for designing and implementing STS initiatives. To reach this aim, we carry out a longitudinal case study over 2016–2018 in Shijiazhuang, China. We offer both theoretical and practical explanations on (i) key value facets with regard to sustainable STS design and implementation; and (ii) a holistic view of iterative value co-creation process pushed by key stakeholders. This study makes particular contributions to the IS, marketing and transportation literature by offering a critical understanding of the social dynamics for shaping a big data-driven STS ecosystem.

Sustainable value co-creation at the Bottom of the Pyramid: using mobile applications to reduce food waste and improve food security

ABSTRACT Mobile apps redistributing surplus food are receiving increased attention for their sustainability benefits. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the opportunities created for businesses to penetrate the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) market. Drawing on Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, affordance and means-end theories, this study investigates how food waste mobile apps can support sustainable value co-creation at the BoP. Using a laddering approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews in Sri Lanka. Despite similarities in respondents’ perceptions of app functions, there are noticeable gaps in the perceived affordances and end goals, which may challenge the value co-creation process. Additionally, opportunism, stigma and goal misalignment may result in value co-destruction, i.e. the diminishment of value through stakeholder interactions. Our findings demonstrate that to develop technologies which enable value co-creation, an in-depth understanding of factors driving perceptions of value is essential.

Sustainable Value Co-Creation in the Virtual Community: How Diversified Co-Creation Experience Affects Co-Creation Intention.

The popularization of digital infrastructure has enabled the rise of the online game industry. Instead of targeting entertainment-oriented technology and services, which are the focus of most relevant studies, in the present study, we review the literature from the perspective of considering players of online games as both consumers of entertainment and co-creators of value. The three major antecedents of the theory of planned behavior, namely personal attitude toward co-creation, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, were modified to explore the relevant constructs. Specifically, the diversity of co-creation experience was used to predict co-creation intention. The proposed model was empirically evaluated through the structural equation modeling of survey data collected from 321 World of Warcraft (WoW) players. As hypothesized, the diversified co-creation experience positively affected the antecedents. The findings provide implications on how to increase players’ participation in co-creation to achieve sustainable mutual benefits.

Sustainable Value Co-Creation and Digital Health: The Case of Trentino eHealth Ecosystem

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework based on recent service theories, such as service-dominant logic and service science, and on the concept of service ecosystems. The identification of the main elements of service ecosystems allows for pinpointing the main drivers for sustainable value co-creation, which is intended as the creation in the long run of new service solutions set up with and for end-users to guarantee a better service for the whole society. Given the high interactivity required in the relationship between players involved in digital health services, we decided to apply the developed framework to eHealth, to re-read the eHealth sector as a service ecosystem. The model is tested through a case study represented by digital healthcare in the Autonomous Province of Trento, which represents a best practice in this sector. The results confirm the presence of the main elements of the service ecosystem (actors, resource integration, technology, institutions) in the eHealth sector and show how their integration favours the creation of new resources, new uses of technology and new institutions that produce innovation and sustainable value co-creation. The originality of the work lies in the reconceptualization of the digital health sector from a new perspective based on the assumptions of service-dominant logic, that allow us to analyze the eHealth ecosystem in a holistic and system view.

Organizing for Innovation in the Digital Economy: The Case of the AEC Industry

Successful implementation of digital technologies is crucial for innovation and competitive advantage.Today, digital technologies are revolutionizing collaboration and value co-creation across traditional industry boundaries and thus generating the need for adaptive and innovative business models, new and flexible organisational forms as well as new digital processes and capabilities. The ability of firms to combine resources across traditional industry boundaries, enabled through digital capabilities, has increased the innovation potential. In the AEC industry, the use of building information modeling (BIM) as the most spread design method has inevitably changed collaboration and innovation in the planning and construction processes. In that context, successful implementation of digital technologies, such as BIM, requires changes in traditional organisational processes, operation and coordination of activities and applied strategies. In our empirical study, conducted in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, we surveyed 176 companies in the AEC industry and collected data on organisational capabilities, strategies and performance. We,use the architecture of organisational capabilities model (Sreckovic, 2018) to explore the impact of innovation on organisational performance. Our empirical results confirm that organisations in the AEC industry need dynamic capabilities for innovation and entrepreneurship, supported by adequate coordination and operational processes that would enable sustainable value co-creation and competitive advantage. Furthermore, successful technological innovations require product and process modeling supported by coordinative and collaborative processes for design and planning. The results indicate as well that traditional organisational forms are giving way to actor-oriented organizational forms due to the nature of digital technologies. This study integrates Porter’s value chain concept and the organizational capabilities model and delivers a contribution to the organizational capability theory. In addition our empirical results from the AEC industry contribute to the innovation and entrepreneurship literature by showing that the process of innovation requires different levels of capabilities for the achievement of competitive advantage, therefore indicating the necessity for an adequate development and coordination of innovation processes in AEC.

Towards a Sustainable Value Co-Creation Framework: Ethical Cognitive Couture, Cognitive System, and Sustainability

The aim of this paper is to develop a sustainable value co-creation (SVCC) conceptual framework in which ethical cognitive couture (ECC) brand stakeholders cocreate value for sustainability facilitated by cognitive system and ethical criteria compliance. As per most literature on service dominant logic (SDL) perspective, all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Even though SDL paradigm has contributed to the conceptualization of “value co-creation”, so far, no academic research study has investigated the role played by the stakeholders in ECC products and services sustainability. Sustainable value cocreation (SVCC) - a business strategy focused on inscribing economic, socio-cultural and environmental issues by recognizing sustainable competitive advantage that bring about community benefit. The research methodology utilizes literature review, relevant databases analytics, and multiple case studies that facilitates broad keywords search, identify high quality peer reviewed papers to obtain perspective on ECC brands to conceptualize a SVCC framework. The contribution of this study provides valuable insights, for the first-time, bestowing new knowledge to the literature on sustainable value co-creation (SVCC) framework elaborating systematically the five building blocks - Risk, Exchange, Advantage, Communication, and Transparency (REACT) and practices adopted by the stakeholders for the ECC market. This comprehensive framework can serve as an education model and practice guide for academia, industry practitioners, policy makers and non-profit organizations.

A Framework for Increasing Sustainability in Services

Environmental sustainability is a growing concern that has not been examined in depth in the service literature. We propose a strategic framework for introducing or increasing sustainability activities in service organizations that acknowledges the role of the customer in the service delivery process. In so doing, the ability to increase an organization’s sustainability is accomplished by both the service provider and the customer. Based on the degree of importance of sustainability to customers as well as the degree of sustainability of its current service delivery processes, service organizations can focus their efforts on customer-enabled or provider-enabled sustainability. To move to the highest degree of sustainability, services need to not only design their operations and supply chain processes to align with their sustainability objectives, but also to educate and/or incentivize their customers to be active participants for sustainable value co-creation.

Social Innovation in Smart Tourism Ecosystems: How Technology and Institutions Shape Sustainable Value Co-Creation

In the service era, markets are reconceptualized as systems of actors interconnected through networked relationships based on resources exchange and producing value co-creation. Two of the main contemporary service research theories, Service-dominant logic and Service science, propose different organizational layouts for producing and harmonizing value co-creation: Service ecosystems and smart service systems. However, these two models show some limitations. So, this work aims at drawing an integrated model, the so called Smart service ecosystem that can be applied to hypercompetitive and experience-based sectors. The model was tested in the tourism sector by using a case study methodology. Ten interviews were administered to key informants to analyze their perception about the main dimensions of the smart service ecosystems. By adopting a holistic view, the results obtained can allow the elaboration of a framework which pinpoints: (1) the main stakeholder groups (actors); (2) the kind of resources exchanged (resource integration); (3) the tools employed (technology); (4) the institution exchange among users (institutions). Applying the model obtained to the tourism sector this work explores the main element-steps for managing and optimizing value co-creation and sustainability in the long run and thus for transitioning from innovation to social innovation.

Value co-creation behaviour – role of embeddedness and outcome considerations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify antecedents and consequences of customers’ value co-creation behaviour (VCB). VCB as a means to facilitate value realisation processes is gaining importance in service research and practice. Encouraging such enactments can be challenging, but can also offer competitive advantages.Design/methodology/approachWe empirically investigate a conceptual model by converging three contemporary concepts of co-creation research – embeddedness, VCB and value-in-context – and examining the interdependencies between them. Data were collected in an online forum of a leading international weight-management firm.FindingsResults suggest that customers’ embeddedness is a key antecedent of customers’ VCB in a service system. The three embeddedness dimensions – structural, relational and cultural – have a differential impact on customers’ VCB. Furthermore, findings illustrate that customers’ VCB has a significant impact on their object-oriented, self-oriented and brand-oriented social value-in-context outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes by empirically investigating and validating antecedents and consequences of VCB in a service system. In doing so, the study highlights the significance of the nature of customer’s social constellations to develop contexts where value outcomes are actualised. Understanding the factors that shape VCB offers insights for firms to recognise how and where value propositions can be deployed that drives on-going co-creation processes.Originality/valueThis study is the first empirical research to offer insights into important pre-conditions and subsequent outcomes concurrently to illustrate how customers’ VCB can be managed and nurtured for sustainable value co-creation processes within service systems. This research further advances mid-range theorizing and microfoundational perspectives in marketing.

An Exploratory Study of the Mechanism of Sustainable Value Creation in the Luxury Fashion Industry

In recent years, increasing numbers of luxury groups have adopted sustainable practices in their supply chains (sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, servicing, waste and recycling). However, the report from Greenpeace International organization (2014) indicates that some luxury brands/companies did not actively conduct sustainable practices to produce items, which is likely attributed to the cost and risks caused by such practices outweighing the benefits. This, to some extent, is due to the failure of developing collaborative practices. Specifically, some luxury brands may fail to develop collaborative practices to create value that are able to benefit multiple stakeholders. Thus, in our study, we explore the value creation mechanism to create sustainable value that benefits not only brands’ shareholders, but also other stakeholders, including producers, customers, other stakeholders in the society (e.g., marginalized people) and the environment. In addition, based on a case study from Stella McCartney and Kering and the literature on value creation, we develop a novel model for guiding sustainable value creation (i.e., value co-creation model), where the conceptual building blocks and specific practices are presented. Our contribution lies in extending the knowledge of the value co-creation model from co-creation with customers to co-creation with multiple stakeholders and elaborating systematically and empirically sustainable value co-creation mechanisms including the building blocks and specific practices. In addition, this study offers significant managerial insights for luxury brands/companies to effectively achieve sustainable value.

Sustainable value co-creation in business networks

Even though the Service Dominant Logic (SDL) paradigm has contributed to the conceptualization of “value co-creation”, no academic study has further investigated the role played by sustainability in business-to-business (BtoB) value co-creation.Using case studies, we examine how BtoB companies embrace the concept of sustainability to co-create value. We determine that such a co-creation of value entails a two-stage process: first, suppliers co-create value with their customer's customers or end users by analyzing or co-creating sustainability awareness. Second, by integrating this behavioral knowledge, suppliers co-create with their direct customers, either a sustainable hybrid offering (a service bundled with a product) or an extended sustainable service. Such a service proposition enables suppliers' direct customers to increase performance (sustainability is at the core of value creation) or to integrate sustainability into their supply chain (sustainability is an incremental element of value creation).Our research enriches the SDL paradigm by demonstrating the role of sustainability in reinforcing or extending the service proposition in a value co-creation process that links the supplier and customer networks.

Critical perspectives on strategic CSR: what is sustainable value co-creation orientation?

Purpose– This purpose of this paper is to integrate corporate responsibility (CR) doctrine into corporate strategy by problematizing existing notions of traditional corporate social responsibility. We provide a theoretical and empirical basis for the proposition that the bridge between CR and corporate irresponsibility is the embeddedness of strategic decisions in ethically oriented corporate practices toward sustainable value co-creation.Design/methodology/approach– Analysis was performed by meta-theoretical and economic philosophical approaches. The contemporary trends which have led to the institutionalization of sustainability questions, are explained. Special attention is paid to the historical, cultural and the international institutional context within which organizational culture becomes saturated with deviance.Findings– The main thrust is that competitive advantage, legitimacy for survival and success of the international firm in the 21st century hinges on innovative value co-creation that meets sustainability pressures and institutional expectations.Research limitations/implications– The research approach opens itself to debate. No generalizability claims are made but the propositions and conceptual framework seek to direct the CR discourse to engage seriously with cooperative investments for sustainable value creation.Originality/value– This paper contributes to the debate on CR, global sustainability and the role of international firms in society. It offers clarity in the confusion and fills a theoretical gap through a novel conceptualization of strategic corporate responsibility. Here, consumer, environmental and institutional orientation rather than producer orientation form the basis of analysis on value co-creation.