Design principles for digital value co-creation networks: a service-dominant logic perspective

Abstract

Information systems (IS) increasingly expand actor-to-actor networks beyond their temporal, organizational, and spatial boundaries. In such networks and through digital technology, IS enable distributed economic and social actors to not only exchange but also integrate their resources in materializing value co-creation processes. To account for such IS-enabled value co-creation processes in multi-actor settings, this research gives rise to the phenomenon of digital value co-creation networks (DVNs). In designing DVNs, it is not only necessary to consider underpinning value co-creation processes, but also the characteristics of the business environments in which DVNs evolve. To this end, our study guides the design of DVNs through employing servicedominant logic, a theoretical lens that conceptualizes value co-creation as well as business environments. Through an iterative research process, this study derives design requirements and design principles for DVNs, and eventually discusses how these design principles can be illustrated by expository design features for DVNs.Drawing on and integrating into extant value co-creation and S-D logic research, we give rise to the phenomenon of DVNs, briefly synthesize DVNs' conceptual constituents (i.e., digital infrastructure, value co-creation, and actor-to-actor networks), and introduce S-D logic as employed kernel theory. Digital value co-creation networksStill, little light has been shed on how actors engage in contexts of dyadic and physical resource integration (Breidbach

Investigating the co-creation of IT consulting service value: empirical findings of a matched pair analysis

“…Thus, S-D logic focuses on interactions between at least two entities with inherently different roles (e.g., IT consulting firms and their clients) in which specialized competencies such as knowledge and skills are exchanged (Bruns and Jacob 2014). Considering this, a service-providing entity (e.g., an IT consulting firm) cannot provide value directly to the beneficiary entity (e.g., an IT consulting firm's client), but can only offer value propositions, leading to value cocreation in networks (Blaschke et al 2019;Hein et al 2019;Lusch 2008, 2016). The participation of all involved actors in the value creation process leads to an enhanced role of beneficiaries, enabling beneficiary-specific solutions.…”

“…Ranjan and Read (2016) provided a thorough overview of different understandings and concepts of value co-creation. Nonetheless, value cocreation is a pivotal element of S-D logic and offers a refined perspective to understand how value co-creation processes occur (Blaschke et al 2019), although this differs in the literature. Grönroos (2006) proposed that only clients are value creators and that service providers are considered value cocreators only in cases when the two parties interact.…”

“…While their model and their incorporation of consumer and firm resources are promising, the investigated B2C service cannot be compared to the more complex area of IT consulting services. In business to business (B2B) relationships in the SDL paradigm, recent publications have been put forth: Digital platforms and the underlying value co-creation processes (Blaschke et al 2018), value co-creation in B2B platform ecosystems on how platforms lever boundary resources (Hein et al 2019), and digital value co-creation in B2B networks (Blaschke et al 2019). In contrast to digital B2B platforms, IT consulting projects have more face-to-face interpersonal interactions.…”

Joining Forces: Understanding Organizational Roles in Inter-organizational Smart Service Systems Engineering

“…[16, p. 223] Chowdhury et al [7] further describe smart PSS as "combinations and interactions between smart technologies, physical products, services, and business models." While the discussion on PSS mainly focuses on the integrated offering of goods and services [16], works on smart service systems rather look at the socio-technical configurations for service provision [13,17], which become increasingly complex through the use of information technology [17,18]. Hence, smart service systems are characterized by high complexity as they integrate a large variety of resources.…”

“…However, they do not describe stakeholder involvement in the actual service system engineering process but refer to external resources as part of the engineering outcome, i.e., the resulting service system. With a similar focus on the outcome, Blaschke et al [26] derive design principles for digital value co-creation networks from a service-dominant logic perspective. Besides service engineering approaches, Jonas and Roth [27] conceptualize a continuum of four modes of stakeholder integration in service innovation.…”