The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of context in service provision and, more broadly, in market co-creation. We oscillate foci from an individual actor at the micro level to a market at the macro level to make the scaleable influence of context more salient. This reveals the meso level, which is nestled between the micro and macro levels. We discuss how these market levels influence one another. We conceptualize markets as simultaneous, continuous exchanges that are bounded by each of these levels of context.

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The proposed framework sheds light on the fundamental role that value propositions play in service systems. Building on service-dominant logic from marketing and structuration theory from sociology, the authors theoretically link three service constructs: value propositions as invitations from actors to one another to engage in service, engagement as alignment of connections and dispositions, and service experience as many-to-many engagement. The proposed framework generates future research directions and theory development regarding the crucial role of value propositions in service systems; ultimately, it contributes to a deeper understanding of markets that is different than that which is guided by the standard neoclassical economics view of markets.

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