Representing Value Co-creation as a Practice of Consumption: Customers’ Perspectives and Actions

The notion of value co-creation conveys that resource exchange among social and economic actors is the basis for value creation. Service Dominant Logic (S-D logic) develops a holistic view that gives the customer an active role in co-creation, as value is created during the consumption experience (Vargo and Lusch 2008). Theoretical models represent co-creation as a collaborative exchange of resources (service) between the firm and the customer, where the firm is in control (e.g., Lusch and Vargo 2014; Vargo et al. 2008). The firm–customer interactions are at the center of multiple co-creative interactions among different actors, within (eco)systems of value. S-D logic evolved from a dual representation of co-creation to a systemic view, centered on the (eco)systems of value (Vargo et al. 2008), without fully understanding how the customer acts, which resources are exchanged and integrated, and the nature of interactions performed when offers are consumed. Customer’s interactions are diverse and service exchange may occur beyond firm’s intervention or control. In some cases, co-creation is independent or dissonant from the firm (Hollenbeck and Zinkhan 2010). In this research we propose a representation of co-creation as a practice, focused on the centrality of customer’s interactions with the offer and with service (eco)systems. The study integrates theoretical insights from S-D logic (e.g., Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008), practice theory (e.g., Schatzki 1996), and a cultural resource-based theory of the customer (Arnould et al. 2006). Theory is applied in an empirical qualitative study, designed to understand customers’ perspectives and routine practices of using a tangible offer (kitchen appliance), and interacting with service (eco)systems. Studying an infinite experience and a tangible product is innovative, and is consonant with the materialist view of practice theory that considers objects as elements of the practice (Reckwitz 2002). Data collection entailed 45 in-depth interviews, two direct observation sessions, and multiple secondary physical and digital data. Findings suggest that customer’s practices integrate multiple elements that configure and organize the bodily and mental actions, such as know-how, images, materials, operant resources, and life goals. Customers are practitioners, because they carry social practices when executing sequences of actions in the consumption of an offer, which are structured by the social practice. Customers are also imaginative interpreters, integrators of multiple resources, and autonomous, creating unique value. Due to its technological nature, the offer becomes part of the practice as it runs autonomously, being positioned as an “assistant.” Practice is conceived as a co-practice, in the same sense that value creation is a co-creation. Resources are shared in (eco)systems of peers and the firm, in a co-creative process, contributing to reconfiguring the social practice. The firm is one among other service providers, but it is not the main source, or even a direct source for the exchange of service. For the customer, value-in-use represents the true meaning for value. Value includes several functional, hedonic, and procedural aspects, and has a hierarchical, complex, and multifaceted nature. Consumption emerges as a means to reach life goals that are beyond the consumption episodes. Findings contribute to theory, by proposing a renewed representation of co-creation, from the customer’s perspective, as a practice of consumption. It positions the interactions customer-offer and customer-(eco)systems at the center of co-creation. The control over co-creation shifts from the firm to the customer, and from the service exchange arena to the customer’s life space. This study endures the limitations of a qualitative research. Future studies should deepen the analysis of customer’s practices, and systematically classify the most significant elements involved in co-creation.References available upon request.