Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how vulnerable consumers can be involved in transformative service design and how this approach may enhance the design of such services. The study also analyzes how co-design with vulnerable consumers differs from existing user involvement processes with the purpose of developing a co-design framework. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach was employed, with six high schools in Australia identified as sites to conduct co-design sessions for a school-based alcohol education program. Adolescents were invited to review and (re)design an existing alcohol education program. Findings The study indicates that co-design with vulnerable consumers cannot be approached in the same way as conventional user involvement processes. Based on the insights generated from six co-design sessions as well as the examination of user involvement and co-design literature, the authors propose a six-step co-design framework. The six steps comprise resourcing, planning, recruiting, sensitizing, facilitation and evaluation. Research limitations/implications The co-design framework illustrates important differences to conventional user involvement processes. However, the generalizability of the research findings is limited to a specific study setting and a narrowly defined sample. Future research in a different setting is needed to further validate the presented findings. Practical implications For service design practice, this study provides guidelines on how co-design activities with vulnerable consumers can be effectively resourced, planned, recruited, sensitized, facilitated and evaluated. The framework outlines how co-design may be applied so that vulnerable consumers can become empowered participants during the design process. Originality/value This research contributes to the knowledge in transformative service research – a priority in service research – and service design by extending the boundaries of our understanding of processes and tools for the involvement of vulnerable consumers in transformative service design.
This paper examines the service experience in an online support community of consumers to understand the nature of social support and how it is experienced and enacted by vulnerable consumers. Design/methodology/approach: A netnographic study was conducted to examine vulnerable consumers' participation in an online support group for weight management. The Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) program was used and additionally data were coded using open coding. A hybrid approach to data analysis was undertaken using inductive and deductive methods. Findings: The findings suggest online social support groups can be used as an online "third place" to support vulnerable consumers, with vulnerable groups engaging with the online support group differently to those in the normal weight group. Social support was also found to be bi-directional in nature. Research limitations/implications: This study only investigates one online support group. To gain deeper insights other support groups should be examined over a longer period of time. Practical implications: This paper demonstrates that transformative services have the hidden capacity to optimize their services to enable vulnerable consumers to co-create social support in a safe place, thus providing a non-judgmental environment with the end goal of improving their health and wellbeing. Social implications: Findings reveal how services can enable marginalization and stigmatization to be overcome and inspire social action through the use of online support groups. 2 Originality/value: This research is unique in that it used a netnography approach to examine how vulnerable consumers such as the overweight and obese interact in an online service setting, reducing self-report bias and allowing for a natural research setting.
Purpose – Most alcohol education programs are designed by experts, with the target audience largely excluded from this process. Theoretically, application of co-creation which comprises co-design and co-production offers an opportunity to better orient programs to meet audience needs and wants and thereby enhance program outcomes. To date, research has centered on value co-creation, with content co-design receiving limited research attention. This study aims to understand how a target audience would design an intervention and continues by contrasting an audience-designed program with the earlier implemented expert-designed program. Design/methodology/approach – Six co-design sessions were conducted with 58 Year 10 adolescents, aged between 14-16 years old, who had participated in Game On: Know Alcohol, a program developed by experts to address binge drinking. The data were content analyzed. Findings – Analysis revealed that a co-designed program would differ substantially from the expert-driven Game On: Know Alcohol program recently trialed. The results indicate that adolescents prefer interactive activities that engage and challenge. Three alternative program solutions, catering to identified segments in the target audience, are suggested for future implementation and evaluation. Research limitations/implications – This sample is limited to adolescents from Catholic schools in one state of Australia, and future research is recommended to extend findings beyond this group. This study is limited to establishment of audience (adolescent) preferences, and future experimental field research is needed to develop, implement and evaluate a co-designed program. Originality/value – This study details a co-design process highlighting differences between expert-designed and audience-designed programs. Future research investigating whether a co-designed program will deliver superior outcomes to an expert-designed program is recommended.
Purpose – This paper aims to extend research applying the principle of market segmentation to gain insight into changing the physical activity behaviour of children, particularly their walk to/from school behaviour. It further examined the utility of employing theory, specifically the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), for this purpose. Childhood obesity is a leading public health concern globally. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted with 512 caregivers of primary school children. Caregivers were targeted given their control over children’s walk to/from school behaviour. Two-step cluster analysis, based on 14 geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural variables, was used to investigate groupings within the data set. Findings – The analysis revealed three distinct segments of caregivers, each with unique beliefs about their children walking to/from school: short-distance frequent walkers, middle-distance sporadic walkers and long-distance non-walkers. Four variables were found to be highly important in distinguishing these segments: distance to school, current walk to/from school behaviour, subjective norms and intentions to increase their child’s walk to school behaviour. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates the usefulness of behavioural, geographic and psychographic variables, as measured by the TPB, in distinguishing segments, offering an important contrast to prior segmentation studies emphasising demographic variables. This result provides empirical evidence of the value of using the four segmentation bases, extending beyond a demographic focus, and the importance of incorporating behavioural theory in market segmentation. In so doing, this research provides key insights into changing children’s walking behaviour.
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