Value-in-context: co-creation across different context levels in the service ecosystem

Purpose This study aims to provide in-depth insight into how value is co-created on different levels of context (i.e. dyads, triads and networks) within a service ecosystem, and thus examine the impact of indirect service-for-service exchanges on the value co-creation process, the interdependencies between different levels of context and the roles in the value co-creation process that the actors play depending on the context level. Design/methodology/approach Using the theoretical framework of service-dominant logic, the authors carry out a case study analysis of a service ecosystem built around a digital platform where independent confectioneries sell customised cakes to customers. Findings This paper provides evidence for the importance of a wider context extending beyond producer–customer dyad as well as indirect service-for-service exchanges in the process of value co-creation. This paper also conceptualises trans-contextual exchanges, that is, exchanges occurring between different context levels of the service ecosystem. The analysis also allowed us to establish that the same actors simultaneously play different roles in the service ecosystem, depending on the level of context. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the importance of indirect service-for-service exchanges and trans-contextual exchanges. Constituting discreet avenues of value co-creation, often obscured from a single actor of a service ecosystem, these two types of exchanges are nonetheless crucial to understanding the full scope of the ecosystem’s interconnectedness, the varying roles of its actors, as well as supporting the scaling up process of the service ecosystem. Originality/value Althogh there are studies examining value co-creation within wider contexts or ecosystems from the service-dominant logic perspective, usually little attention is paid to the indirect service-for-service exchanges and the interplay between different levels of context.