Actor’s Expedience for Value Co-Creation in Learning Service Systems at Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Service Dominant (S-D) logic is now considered as a trans-disciplinary theoretical contribution that warrants investigation of research interventions in the fields of management and OB. Taking into account the importance of active participation of multiple actors in the value co-creation ventures, this paper attempts to contribute towards mid-range theoretical development in the field of service science and management from a multidisciplinary frame. Adopting the service system’s view, the term “expedience” is proposed that accounts for the actor’s readiness as an essential ingredient for value co-creation in learning service systems. Role of social and institutional influences for value co-creation in the actor’s expedience phase is also examined; in particular, with the help of a generic process-based framework that comprises of key elements related to actor’s development and influence of service climate on value co-creation processes. Multiple qualitative case studies were used to explore rich experiences of actors during instances of service interactions in higher education institutions and empirical findings are generated from 37 in-depth interviews, observations and web page analysis. Results confirmed that sustainable value co-creation requires interplay of social and technological dimensions; where, educational institutions need to develop a service climate for speeding up the actor’s expedience. Implications for service firms offering digital solutions are discussed at later stages of the paper to examine potential of advancing avenues for service OB.