PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate value co‐creation in assessing higher education (HE) teaching quality by acknowledging the influence of all interacting parties: teachers, students and general university service. The paper questions the appropriateness of student satisfaction surveys for assessing lecturer performance.Design/methodology/approachBy introducing co‐creation and interaction between several stakeholders the paper deals with a complex problem which is best addressed through multiple approaches. The paper uses a literature review of HE quality together with empirical case study research of one university based on data from documents, student surveys and interviews with lecturers. The data are interpreted in the light of the recent theory of service (S‐D) logic and many‐to‐many marketing.FindingsThe paper highlights the complexity of HE service and recommends that EHEA assumes a co‐creation perspective. Resources are provided by lecturers, students and university service which require an interactive approach through which the parties integrate these resources. The information asymmetry between lecturers and students invalidates student satisfaction surveys as an instrument to assess teaching quality. The complexity of HE teaching cannot be boiled down to a single number that forms the ground for comparison between lecturers.Originality/valueThe paper offers a more valid perspective on HE quality by applying the concepts of value co‐creation and resource integration. It shows that the current one‐sided student evaluation of teachers is inadequate.

This article aims to identify the determinants that influence business tourism income and that may be controlled by economic agents and policy makers of destination countries. For the development of the empirical study, a dynamic panel model by the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was estimated using the Gretl 2016a software, and a sample of 122 countries for the period 2002-2013 (12 years) was used. The study reveals that, for the development of policies to stimulate the growth in the short and long-term of business tourism income, countries should develop measures that encourage capital investment in tourism and foreign direct investment.

Purpose From a service ecosystem perspective, the purpose of this paper is to examine students’ evaluation surveys as a tool used by most higher education (HE) institutions worldwide to measure teaching quality with consequences for tenure and promotion. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on the service-dominant (S-D) logic and specifically on the service ecosystem approach. Through an in-depth literature review and analysis the authors explore the effect of student evaluation surveys on the value co-creation process, describe the role they play in the HE ecosystem and critically evaluate their efficacy. The research is based on empirical data from the literature and previous studies findings. Findings The literature review highlights the detrimental consequences of the use of students’ evaluation surveys for teachers and students and for the rest of actors of this service. The authors argue that institutions should embrace a service ecosystem perspective based on S-D logic. The authors highlight the role of institutions as moderators of the interactions between actors and, finally, the authors have introduced the concept of “service ecosystem pollution” which the authors define as the presence or introduction of disruptive elements in the service ecosystem adversely affecting the nature of value co-creation. Practical implications This study emphasizes the importance for HE institutions to embrace a service ecosystem approach so as to foster and preserve the value co-creation processes taking place within the interactions among the HE actors. Conclusions drawn from this paper suggest that HE institutions should focus on strategies such as investing in improving students’ and teachers’ operant resources rather than polluting the HE service ecosystem with the use of students’ evaluation surveys. Originality/value Hitherto there are no studies analyzing the tools HE institutions use to measure teaching quality from a service ecosystem perspective. The study is especially valuable due to the consequences and the use of these measures entails for teachers, students and society.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze how institutions can facilitate or inhibit radical innovation. The authors argue that organizational radical innovation is necessary to maintain a competitive advantage and to evolve in the market place, and institutions are the basis of this innovation. From an innovation and service dominant (SD) logic perspective, network ties are proposed to be a determining factor for the achievement of innovation through institutionalization in the university knowledge management context. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual approach is applied to develop and propose a framework for deepening understanding of radical organizational innovation, institutions and network ties. Data were gathered from Link by UMA-ATech, which in the context of the University of Málaga (Spain) is with great success developing a strategy based on fostering innovation. In all, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted with actors in the Link context, together with additional important second-order data analyses (sector analyses, statistics and company websites). Because of the perceived desirability of innovation, public universities have established a model as a part of this strategy in order to foster and develop new businesses through technology transfer. Findings Changing institutional arrangements are the basis of innovation. Opening universities to the actors around them, with an interest in exchanging resources through the evolution of network ties toward a less bureaucratic and more collaborative and open university (tertius iungens) is the basis for reaching organizational radical innovation in the university context to develop the provider-driven radical innovation network structure via the “University Living Lab” theoretical model. Research limitations/implications A conceptual understanding is used in combination with an empirical approach, in which one case study and 22 organizations are considered in the context of Link-by-UMA ATech, at the University of Málaga. A range of different contexts from other universities would also be useful to add new perspectives to the development of the theory. Practical implications Although radical innovation is occasionally seen in systems and arises naturally in markets, it is interesting to consider the possibility of designing strategies that facilitate the process from the beginning of the design of the business model. In this sense, the present findings could help organizations in general and universities in particular, to devise strategies resulting in positive relationships that could facilitate the design of business model structures. These could in turn foster the development of new institutions resulting in new network ties, which could give rise to radical innovation through the attraction of new actors interested in exchanging service-for-service resources. Originality/value The present paper develops the provider-driven radical innovation network structure of the “University Living Lab” theoretical model, which encourages the university to make decisions to devise more open models based on a change of network ties, in turn based on the design of new institutional arrangements. These concepts have not previously been put together, and build on the theories of institutions and organizational radical innovation. This theoretical contribution is framed within the SD logic perspective and specifically in the 11th fundamental premise (FP 11/5th axiom) to better understand how innovation occurs in service ecosystems, allowing the provider the possibility of developing such processes through the design of institutional arrangements.

The role of higher education (HE) in the development of societies is an unquestionable fact, and its management has traditionally been a major concern of governments. Lately, there has been worldwide debate on whether universities should adopt traditional management practices as applied in any business sector. This paper questions the adoption of these practices, because they tend to simplify the complexity of this service, and argues that service-dominant logic (SDL) is a more appropriate approach to manage HE institutions. It envisions HE as a complex system where many actors interact to co-create value and focuses on the student–teacher dyad. Through a critical literature review, this paper states that the increasing established analogy of the ‘student–customer’ and ‘teacher–provider’, adopted to simplify the complexity of the HE service and thus allow the implementation of traditional management practices, jeopardizes the sustainability of social development due to its effects on the long-term quality of professionals’ training. Then, under the frame of SDL, we define students as co-creators of value (rather than customers) and teachers as value proposers, providing new insights to the debate and critical new recommendations for policymakers and universities to manage this critical relationship.