Prosumption and Value-in-Use: The Complementary Role of Transaction Cost in S-D Logic

The recent economic downturn is causing consumers to examine their personal budgets with a critical eye as they endeavor to become more efficient in their spending. One means of increasing the efficiency of expenditures is for consumers to participate in the creation of the products they consume. Popularly depicted as do-it-yourself, academics are using the term prosumption to describe this trend. Its popularity is evident in the highly rated HGTV and DIY (do-it-yourself) networks and shows such as Income Property, Renovation Realities, and I Hate My Kitchen. The movement to prosumption is not insignificant as the global do-it-yourself market is expected to reach $716.2 billion by 2015 (Global Industry Analysts 2012). Because SDL suggests that all value is co-created, research that investigates the effect of prosumption on value creation. Specifically, firms are relying on consumers to “do-it-themselves” rather than to co-create.