Value co-creation: The role of actor competence

Abstract

Adopting a Service-Dominant Logic lens, recent research within industrial marketing contexts increasingly recognizes the role of operant resources in value co-creation. Incumbent within operant resources is actor competence. Despite this, an investigation into the role of actor competence in value co-creating processes is scant and the competence literature, in general, has tended to concentrate on specialized knowledge and skills based interpretations that potentially restrict our understanding of the construct. To address this gap, this research adopts a phenomenological approach to explore perceived behavioral attributes of competent actors.Findings confirm two broad behaviorally based conceptualizations of competence: 1) extra-role behavior demonstrated through organizational citizenship behavior, and 2) in-role behavior demonstrated through understanding of work, and engagement behavior. To this end, the contribution of this research is twofold. First and from a theoretical perspective, it offers empirical insights into a relational based framework of competency within industrial marketing contexts. Second, and from a pragmatic perspective, this framework may aid managers in developing a broader understanding of actor competence and how such competencies may be enhanced within the workplace to optimize value co-creation.

Three Decades of Customer Value Research: Paradigmatic Roots and Future Research Avenues

“…Some of these researchers even bridge the positivist and social constructionist paradigms by developing scales to capture value co-creation (e.g., Ranjan and Read 2016) and value co-creation behaviors (e.g., Tommasetti, Troisi, and Vesci 2017). As such, these researchers pave the way for research on the drivers and consequences of value co-creation behaviors in the positivist tradition (e.g., Waseem, Biggeman, and Garry 2018).…”

A new positioning framework for organizational value: Juxtaposing organizational value positions with customer centricity

“…A better understanding of value can generate competitive advantage (Bohm, Neumann, & Gassmann, ; Gallarza, Gil, & Holbrook, ; Porter, ). Customers seeking and taking more value from organizations are likely to generate greater revenues (Pynnonen, Ritala, & Hallikas, ; Waseem, Biggeman, & Garry, ). This differential advantage derives from the customer's recognition of superior value (Brock Smith & Colgate, ).…”

Consumer Brand Value Co-creation Typology

“…Recent research on co-creation and branding has focused on many different topics, including the implementation of a co-creation strategy (Ind et al, 2017), social marketing (Domegan, Collins, Stead, McHugh, & Hughes, 2013), collective action (Laamanen & Skålén, 2015), cultural differences (Voyer et al, 2017), customer co-creation value (Agrawal & Rahman, 2017; Merz et al, 2018), engagement (Black & Veloutsou, 2017; Conduit & Chen, 2017), actor roles (Biraghi & Gambetti, 2017; Kumar & Rajan, 2017; von Wallpach, Hemetsberger, & Espersen, 2017; Waseem, Biggemann, & Garry, 2017), brand communities (Kornum, Gyrd-Jones, Al Zagir, & Brandis, 2017; Roncha & Radclyffe-Thomas, 2016), value creation (Echeverri & Salomonson, 2017; Flores & Vasquez-Parraga, 2015; Grönroos & Voima, 2013; Merz et al, 2018; Skålén, Pace, & Cova, 2015), the outcome of co-creation (Alves, Fernandes, & Raposo, 2016; Cossío-Silva, Revilla-Camacho, Vega-Vázquez, & Palacios-Florencio, 2016; Kennedy, 2017; Navarro, Llinares, & Garzon, 2016) and the negative side of co-creation (Daunt & Harris, 2017; Greer, 2015; Plé, 2017; Smith, 2013). However, despite this impressive research attention and the resultant rich literature base, there is still not a clear picture of the different actors involved in co-creation, and the boundary conditions that make one type of co-creation more appropriate than another.…”