Value Co-creation Practices Research Articles

Public services as practices: towards a framework for understanding co-creation and co-destruction of private and public value

ABSTRACT Despite the importance of public services, a sound conceptualization of what they are is lacking. Following an analysis of research on public service logic, public value and practices, this paper proposes a public services as practices framework. This framework defines public services as bundles of shared public value co-creation practices that consists of templates and performances. While templates are designed to co-create public and private value, these types of value can be both co-created and co-destroyed during performances. The framework contributes by conceptualizing what public services are and how public and private value are co-created and co-destroyed through public services.

A Framework of Services-as-Practices

The idea of conceptualizing services as a type of discrete entity that are different from goods provided the initial conceptual foundation of service research. Today, this foundation has been denounced and replaced by the service-dominant logic (SDL), which suggests that service is a logic reffering to how resources are integrated by actors in order to cocreate value-in-use. However, researchers and practitioners still commonly refer to services as a type of discrete entity. To facilitate the understanding of services, this paper develops a services-as-practices (SaP) framework consisting of six propositions. Key to the SaP framework is the fact that services are conceptualized as bundles of value cocreation practices (VCPs). These VCPs are organized and recurring activities that are intended to cocreate value, but they can also codestroy (i.e., diminish) value when performed. The SaP framework contributes to service research by developing: (1) a novel conceptualization of services that realizes the long-lasting opportunity to understand services-as-activities, (2) a novel conceptualization of value that aligns theoretically with this understanding of services, and (3) the service research discipline as a whole. The latter contribution is accomplished by revising the notion of services as a type of discrete entity in such a way that a fruitful alternative perspective to focusing on service as a logic along the lines of the SDL is achieved. The SaP framework also provides practitioners with a novel perspective as regards understanding, managing, and developing services.

Fan and fantasy: investigating the impact of fantasy sports on sports fan identity

ABSTRACT Research question This study investigates the impact of fantasy sport on online sport fan identities. It explores the socio-psychological outcomes experienced by sport fans participating in fantasy sport and investigates their collaborative value co-creation practices. Research methods We use netnography to collect user comments across relevant subreddits. We further employ content analysis to identify the socio-psychological outcomes experienced by sport fans participating in fantasy sport and to gain insights into value co-creation practices within the fantasy sport community. Findings This study presents three significant findings. Firstly, it delineates BIRGing as celebration and trash talk and CORFing as disappointment, contemplation, and avoidance. Secondly, it introduces two new socio-psychological outcomes – FAGing and FARDing – encapsulating the dual identity of sport fans participating in fantasy sport. Third, it identifies three unique co-creation practices observed in fantasy sport communities – favoritism and subgrouping; sharing, supporting, and strategizing; and bragging. Implications This study contributes to our understanding of the impact of fantasy sport on the fan­ – team dynamic and the emergence of distinctive co-creation practices among evolved fans. From a practical perspective, the research has implications for sport managers and fantasy sport platforms, as fantasy sport serves as a powerful tool for engaging audiences of professional sport leagues.

How Can Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises Improve Green Innovation Performance through Innovation Ecosystems?

Under the fierce business competition and sustainable development pressure, the pattern of enterprise innovation has gradually changed from independent innovation to cooperative innovation. As a collection of multi-type innovation actors, the innovation ecosystem provides opportunities and platforms for cooperative innovation among government–industry–university–research institutions. While the present studies on innovation ecosystems are mostly from the perspective of the system level, few studies pay attention to the innovation mechanism of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) in the innovation ecosystem. Therefore, this study takes SMMEs embedded in innovation ecosystems as research objects and explores the factors affecting green innovation. We constructed a theoretical model to explain the effect of innovation eco-embeddedness on green innovation performance based on ecosystem theory and network embeddedness theory; we then collected 363 samples of SMMEs in China through surveys and further tested the data empirically. The results show that the innovation eco-embeddedness (IEE) of SMMEs has a positive effect on their green innovation performance (GIP), and their green value co-creation practices (GVCCPs) partially mediate the relationship between IEE and GIP. Moreover, ecological norms (ENs) in the innovation ecosystem not only positively moderate the impact of IEE on GVCCPs but also positively moderate the mediating role of GVCCPs. This study enriches the relevant research on innovation ecosystems from the perspective of non-core enterprises and provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for SMMEs to implement green innovation practices and realize growth through innovation ecosystems.

Agencement of onlife and phygital: smart tech–enabled value co-creation practices

PurposeIn this article, we reflect on how smart technology is transforming service research discourses about service innovation and value co-creation. We adopt the concept of technology smartness’ to refer to the ability of technology to sense, adapt and learn from interactions. Accordingly, we seek to address how smart technologies (i.e. cognitive and distributed technology) can be powerful resources, capable of innovating in relation to actors’ agency, the structure of the service ecosystem and value co-creation practices.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual article integrates evidence from the existing theories with illustrative examples to advance research on service innovation and value co-creation.FindingsThrough the performative utterances of new tech words, such as onlife and materiality, this article identifies the emergence of innovative forms of agency and structure. Onlife agency entails automated, relational and performative forms, which provide for new decision-making capabilities and expanded opportunities to co-create value. Phygital materiality pertains to new structural features, comprised of new resources and contexts that have distinctive intelligence, autonomy and performativity. The dialectic between onlife agency and phygital materiality (structure) lies in the agencement of smart tech–enabled value co-creation practices based on the notion of becoming that involves not only resources but also actors and contexts.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a novel conceptual framework that advances a tech-based ecology for service ecosystems, in which value co-creation is enacted by the smartness of technology, which emerges through systemic and performative intra-actions between actors (onlife agency), resources and contexts (phygital materiality and structure).

An Extensive Framework of Customer-to-Customer Value Co-creation Practices: A Study in a Running Event Context

This study investigates customer-to-customer value co-creation practices by adopting a customer-dominant logic. Data were gathered through observations of 5 running events in Vietnam, interviews with 17 runners, and netnography. Fifty-four micro-practices at the individual-, group-, and community-level were identified, and an extensive framework differentiating four distinct practice-based circles (blurred, self-organizing, open, and integrated areas) was formed to delineate the entire phenomenon. By enriching the understanding of customer-to-customer value co-creation within the broader context of customers’ lifeworld, the study lays foundations to advance this stream of research and offers insights for providers to step into and support customer-to-customer value co-creation processes.

Resources integrators in social media: an analysis of value cocreation

PurposeThis study aims to identify the groups of value cocreators in the context of social media in the retail banking industry and resources that predict customer membership among different groups of value cocreators.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviewed the literature and developed measurement instruments for the constructs of interest. Data were collected from 406 customers in an emerging market in 2019 and analyzed using latent profile analysis.FindingsThis study identified three profiles of value cocreators on social media based on the actual practices of resource integration that enliven value cocreation. Second, this study explains the differences in the performance of resource integration practices to cocreate by the types of resources that customers integrate into social media. Third, this study fills the need for knowledge of value cocreation in different contexts and industries (e.g. banks).Originality/valueThis study analytically relates a set of resources to the variety and intensity of the value cocreation practices adopted by bank customers in interactive environments. The emphasis on how value cocreation practices in online environments combined with customer resources (e.g., a person-centered approach) allows to identify unique profiles of value cocreators on social media. The findings inform managers of the profiles of cocreators, which customers are more attractive as value cocreators on social media, and which resources managers should help customers develop to increase cocreation on social media.

Organizational practices to co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of their loved ones

PurposeThe aim of this research is to provide insight into how organizations can co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of customers experiencing vulnerabilities, thereby paying attention to their organizational practices (i.e. recursive or routinized patterns of organizational actions and behaviors).Design/methodology/approachTo investigate, this research relies upon a multiple case study in a group of nursing homes in Flanders that had the ambition to engage family members in service journeys of their loved ones while measuring their value perceptions as a performance indicator (here, satisfaction with nursing home services).FindingsThe case evidence shows that nursing homes co-create value with family members through caring practices that focus on their role as secondary customers (i.e. welcoming, connecting and embedding) and empowering practices that focus on their role as partial employees (i.e. teaming up, informing and listening practices). However, the way in which the different caring and empowering practices are enacted by the nursing home and its staff affects their value co-creation potential.Originality/valueBy focusing on the practices with which organizations can co-create value with family members engaged in service journeys of their loved ones, this research bridges the service literature with its attention for value co-creation practices and the literature on customers experiencing vulnerabilities with its focus on extended customer entities.

The Relationship of Online Brand Community, Value Creation Practices, Brand Trust, and Brand Loyalty

Objective: Companies are realizing the potential of the online brand community to increase consumer relationships. Online Brand community keeps customers using the company's products through all community activities. This study investigates the effect of the activity in the online brand community on value co-creation practices to create brand trust and brand loyalty. Design/Methods/Approach: An online survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire among 319 members of an online brand community. The collected data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: Online brand communities influence value co-creation practices (social networking, community engagement, impression management, and brand use). In this study, social networking and impression management influence brand trust and brand loyalty. However, community engagement and brand use do not affect brand trust. The role of brand trust affects the creation of brand loyalty in online brand community members. Originality/Value: This study examines the effect of value co-creation practices in online brand communities on brand trust and brand loyalty in brand communities found in one country with a high collectivity level. Not all community value co-creation activities have the effect of creating brand trust due to conditions within the community. Practical/Policy implication: The practical implication is to guide marketers to pay attention to some value co-creation activities in online brand communities that can create brand trust in brand communities with a high culture of collectivity. Companies understand the dynamics of online brand communities and relevant strategies in high collectivity cultures, as well as leveraging the potential of social networks while overcoming the challenges posed by the abundance of information on the internet.

Value co-creation research in tourism and hospitality management: A systematic literature review

The sustainable growth of the tourism industry is attributed to the involvement of tourists in the process of value co-creation. This research aims to systematically review the existing literature on value co-creation practices in tourism and conduct a comprehensive analysis of this research area. The paper synthesizes past studies on value co-creation in tourism, encompassing theories, context, methods, and characteristics, to analyze the progress made in value co-creation research over the past two decades. Furthermore, this study investigates the role of value co-creation as an antecedent, mediator, and control variable, as well as its outcomes in the context of tourism management. The findings of the study propose an integrated framework for tourism value co-creation. Additionally, the study identifies key themes present in the current literature on value co-creation and highlights overlooked areas, suggesting new research directions to advance this field. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed.

Understanding sustainable service ecosystems: a meso-level perspective

PurposeThe world continues to grapple with grand challenges – climate change, pandemic, poverty, social injustice and diminishing resources – requiring mitigation if we are to focus on well-being and move towards a more sustainable future. Cultivating sustainable ecosystems offers a possible solution. The purpose of this paper is to understand how sustainable organizations at the meso level can nurture sustainable service ecosystems that provide the potential for greater well-being outcomes for individuals, business, society and the planet.Design/methodology/approachCase study data is gathered from 11 sustainable fashion organizations operating at the meso level within a complex ecosystem. The analysis includes interviews with founders and/or key managers and secondary information from company websites and publicly available reports.FindingsThe findings identify key value co-creation sustainable practices at the meso level that facilitate the function of the service ecosystem to create well-being outcomes. Value co-creation practices include – embedding a sustainable ethos; implementing sustainable strategies that embrace innovation, transparency and stakeholder collaboration; and incorporating sustainable communication practices that engage.Originality/valueEncapsulating sustainability within macromarketing and service ecosystems enables the development of a sustainable service ecosystems framework that has the potential to offer enhanced well-being. Implications for marketing practice in terms of important factors that facilitate service-sustainable ecosystems to enhance well-being are considered.

The nature and fundamental elements of digital service innovation

PurposeThis paper addresses the growing fragmentation between traditional and digital service innovation (DSI) research and offers a unifying metatheoretical framework.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in service-dominant (S-D) logic's service ecosystems perspective, this study builds on an institutional and systemic, rather than product-centric and linear, conceptualization of value creation to offer a unifying framework for (digital) service innovation that applies to both physical and digital service provisions.FindingsThis paper questions the commonly perpetuated idea that DSI fundamentally changes the nature of innovation. Instead, it highlights resource liquification—the decoupling of information from the technologies that store, transmit, or process this information—as a distinguishing characteristic of DSI. Liquification, however, does not affect the relational and institutional nature of service innovation, which is always characterized by (1) the emergence of novel outcomes, (2) distributed governance and (3) symbiotic design. Instead, liquification makes these three characteristics more salient.Originality/value In presenting a cohesive service innovation framework, this study underscores that all innovation processes are rooted in combinatorial evolution. Here, service-providing actors (re)combine technologies (or more generally, institutions) to adapt their value cocreation practices. This research demonstrates that such (re)combinations exhibit emergence, distributed governance and symbiotic design. While these characteristics may initially seem novel and unique to DSI, it reveals that their fundamental mechanisms are not limited to digital service ecosystems. They are, in fact, integral to service innovation across virtual, physical and blended contexts. The study highlights the importance of exercising caution in assuming that the emergence of novel technologies, including digital technologies, necessitates a concurrent rethinking of the fundamental processes of service innovation.

How gamified online loyalty programs enable and facilitate value co-creation: a case study within a sports-related service context

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to gain insights from a case study into how gamified loyalty programs enable and facilitate value co-creation and what underlying purpose organizations pursue when engaging with members in such a program.Design/methodology/approachA multimethod approach is deployed consisting of an observational and an explorative study. The authors collaborate with adidas, one of the leading (sports) retailers in the world. A five-month netnographic study is conducted on the adiClub, the online loyalty program of adidas. Based on the findings of this first study, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in a second study with adidas managers from diverse backgrounds currently involved in projects and day-to-day work related to the adiClub. The exclusive interview data provide further insights and help interpret and validate the netnographic observations.FindingsMost value co-creation studies on engagement platforms in marketing relate to social media, physical events or online forums. Based on the multimethod approach of this study, existing research is extended on how online loyalty programs enable and facilitate value co-creation. Furthermore, the authors identify the organizational purpose behind engaging in value co-creation practices along the social, economic and ecological dimensions.Practical implicationsThis case study offers implications for organizations on how online loyalty programs enable and facilitate value co-creation through gamification. In addition, it connects the value co-creation practices with the respective purpose that organizations pursue with related activities. Hence, it further enhances the knowledge and repertoire of managers for setting up and running gamified online loyalty programs.Originality/valueIncreased gamification driven by the advances of digital transformation enables and facilitates value co-creation, which initiates unprecedented digital sales potential for service organizations. Research about the digital transformation of value co-creation remains scarce. The authors seek to address this research gap by focusing on value co-creating activities within online loyalty programs.

Customer perceived quality of life in provider value cocreation: The mediating role of customer value cocreation and the moderating role of customer emotions

AbstractThis study aims to investigate the association between service provider value cocreation (PVCC) and customer perceived quality of life (QOL) in a healthcare service context. This study also examines the mediating role of customer value cocreation (CVCC) and the moderating role of customer emotions using a conditional process framework. To examine the conceptual model, data were collected through an online survey of 441 healthcare customers. The hypotheses were tested using covariance‐based structural equation modeling (CB‐SEM) and PROCESS macro. The results show that PVCC positively influences both CVCC and QOL. The effect of CVCC on QOL is positive and significant. CVCC plays a mediating role in the link between PVCC and QOL. In addition, the absence of negative emotion serves as a moderator in improving perceived QOL. Evaluating value cocreation efforts allows service providers to understand their readiness for supportive value cocreation practices. Service providers must also focus on customers' roles in the value cocreation process. In addition, handling customers' emotions should be of particular interest to frontline service providers, because it augments a positive value cocreation practice beneficial to CVCC and QOL enhancement. This study contributes to the value cocreation literature by proposing a framework that combines the value cocreation of service providers and customers in enhancing QOL. This study also explicates and validates the complex role of value cocreation and emotion in the healthcare service context. The theoretical and managerial implications are also presented.

Towards becoming a service-dominant enterprise: an actor engagement perspective

Service-dominant logic (SDL) has become an important thinking, in which service fuels growth of the firm. However, existing evidence offers little explanation of how service emerges as dominant logic. This paper investigates how a firm evolves to become an SDL enterprise. Drawing on theoretical notions of SDL and actor engagement, a case study of Homekoo is performed. The findings show that “service mindset” is the key that drives a firm to embrace SDL, and that technology can act as a “boundary spanner” to coordinate value co-creation practices across different levels, which enhances existing knowledge of actor-to-actor (A2A) interaction.

Value co-creation in sport tourism: the practices of international participants in a tourism running event

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concept of value co-creation, this study examines how international participants co-create value in a sport tourism setting. Through a qualitative investigation of actors co-creating value in a tourism running event, this study identified and categorized value co-creation practices of international participants, who travel to Japan to run a marathon. This study identified three categories and seven value co-creation practices, located on a continuum from before-event to during- and after-event. The findings provide insights for sport tourism planners to enhance value co-creation, especially involving international participants who face language and cultural barriers.

B2B value co-creation influence on engagement: Twitter analysis at international trade show organizer

PurposeThis paper studies, based on the theory of service-dominant logic, the effect of value co-creation practices (linking and materializing) on engagement dimensions (popularity, commitment and virality). The main objective is to analyze the influence of value co-creation practices on engagement at international trade shows organizer association on Twitter.Design/methodology/approachThis paper studies the usage of Twitter by the Specialty Food Association, which organizes one of the top five foods and beverage international trade show in the United States. To achieve the research objective, the authors have analyzed 1,608 posts on Twitter from the Twitter account @Specialty_Food. A content analysis was performed using Krippendorff's (2004) recommendations, and the data were analyzed using regression analysis with optimal scaling and Kruskal–Wallis Test.FindingsAccording to the results, some materializing practices influence popularity, commitment, virality and global engagement on Twitter. While the usage of some linking practices influences respectively commitment and popularity.OriginalityThese results provide valuable information for business-to-business (B2B) contexts and answer a research gap reported in previous literature, which affirms that more research is needed about the relationship between service systems and engagement. From a general view, to generate more engagement on social media in B2B contexts, it is recommended to prioritize posts that incorporate live and online events based on collaborative and dynamic human interactions, following by business ideas and business cases.

A Study on the Relationship between Innovation and Corporate Performance: In the Context of China’s Fitness Service Industry

Based on the current literature and practice literature, and in the new business era in which digital technology and many industries converge and lead to “consumer seizure of power”, value co-creation is becoming the most competitive and creative strategic concept. The quantitatively designed study is to consider that, as a brand-new form of value creation, value co-creation subverts the traditional view that value is created by enterprises in one direction and customers are only value consumers, highlighting that value is jointly created by enterprises and customers in the interactive process. The purpose of this study is to analyze the implementation effect of value co-creation. Findings pointed out that the current academic achievements are insufficient in the internal mechanism and mechanism of value co-creation carried out by enterprises as the research object, especially the lack of strong arguments and theoretical guidance for enterprises to establish value co-creation practices with consumers. The implications are that the appropriate quantitative research is urgently needed to fully verify the role and impact of value co-creation. The joint creation of value between enterprises and consumers is the source of sustainable competitiveness for enterprises and an inevitable choice for the future development of enterprises.

Co-creation as choreography

PurposeThis study aims to propose a novel concept of choreography as a way of understanding co-creation of value and thus develops the spatial analytical dimensions of co-creation theorising.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper contemplates the meanings and possibilities of leveraging the theoretical underpinnings of value co-creation, from the viewpoint of value-in-experience.FindingsThe concept of choreography opens up a way to read knowledge as movement. It enables a way to elaborate on both the phenomenological and non-representational aspects of co-creation processes. Conceptualising co-creation through such a lens, where knowing is seen as an on-going, spatio-temporal and affective process formed in movement, posits opportunities to further understand the value co-creation practices of experiences. Choreography gives access to the kinaesthetic and affective nature of knowing gained in and through different spatio-temporal contexts and can, in turn, be mobilised in others.Originality/valueOnly a few studies have conceptualised co-creation in relation to a spatio-temporal phenomenon. Notably, this study connects co-creation with mobilities and thus constructs a novel view of knowledge and value creation.

Learning resource integration by engaging in value cocreation practices: a study of music actors

PurposeThis paper explores how actors engage in the situated learning of resource integration (RI) within value cocreation practices (VCPs). VCPs are collectively shared and organized routine activities that actors perform to cocreate value.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on a qualitative study of how successful music actors engage in VCPs and learn RI. Interviews and observations were used to collect data that were analyzed by drawing on the Gioia methodology.FindingsThe findings illuminate the types of VCPs actors engage in to learn RI, the ways in which actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, and how social contexts condition actors' learning of RI.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper offers a framework for understanding actors' situated learning of RI by engaging in VCPs. It illuminates the VCPs that actors engage in to learn RI, how actors advance from peripheral to core participation through their learning, the ways in which actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, and how social contexts condition actors' situated learning of RI. Implications for the scarce prior research on how actors learn RI are presented.Practical implicationsTo contribute to innovative solutions and sustainable growth, managers and policymakers need to offer actors opportunities to learn and make space for actors with competencies that may be important and needed in future VCPs.Originality/valueIn focusing on how actors learn RI by engaging in VCPs, this study draws on theories of communities of practices and situated learning, as well as practice theoretical service research.