Explaining digital service users’ pursuit of value : a value co-creation and co-destruction perspective

Abstract

In the era of digital services, services account for approximately 70% of the global economy. Service-dominant logic (SDL), as a lens for understanding services as value co-creation (VCC) processes, serves to elucidate how value can be derived from the use of digital services. However, the prior research in this area has tended to adopt a firm-centric or generic approach to designing and developing systems, paying less attention on the perspective of an individual user. Further, SDL tends to overlook the possibility of negative service outcomes following the use of such systems, that is, value co-destruction (VCD). Therefore, this dissertation investigates the phenomena of VCC and VCD through five qualitative studies. First, we conduct a meta-analysis of laddering interviews (n = 113) to examine service users’ hedonic and utilitarian drivers in relation to VCC behavior as well as to identify VCC mechanisms for digital service design. Using the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach, we show that VCC is contextually dependent and occurs in different ways depending on the digital service in question. Our findings also show that VCC is driven by both hedonic and utilitarian user values. Subsequently, we perform a structured literature review and propose a synthesized framework for the VCD process. The framework comprises two interrelated dimensions (i.e., VCD drivers and VCD interaction components) and their constituents, which occur at three temporal points of the service encounter. Further, we conduct an in-depth case study involving digital service users (n = 43) in the augmented reality mobile games context, thereby examining the users’ VCD experiences. We employ a hierarchical clustering analysis and propose the reasoning behind users’ VCD experiences. Subsequently, we conduct an ISM analysis to reveal the VCD process mechanisms that occur at four hierarchical levels. The proposed models of VCC and VCD contribute to both research and practice by offering new insights into the favorable and unfavorable aspects of services, shedding particular light on individual users’ service experiences. Linking the concepts of VCC and VCD, this dissertation extends the SDL framework with insights into the two distinct phenomena. Our findings may be harnessed in the design, development, and provision of digital services, thereby enhancing both the service experience and the derived value.