The value co-creation crossroad of service-dominant logic and network theory

Abstract

Conventional models of economic exchange limit the understanding of value-creation to a firm's output and the price a person is willing to pay, value-in-exchange. The present research addresses the inadequacies of such models through the synthesis of two growing streams of marketing thought, service-dominant logic and network theory. At this crossroad, a framework for value co-creation is presented, which suggests that service is the underlying basis of all exchange and that the service recipient (e.g., customer) ultimately derives and determines value, through value-in-use. The proposed model unites value-in-exchange and value-in-use under one process of value co-creation, which is composed of three elements, the accessibility, adaptability and integratability of operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills), within a system of service-for-service exchange. Seven research propositions are presented based on the notions that value derived through co-creation is heterogeneous for each actor and influenced by the configuration and quality of its surrounding network.