Brand Community as Co-Creation Value in the Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing

Abstract

In this paper, we present the conceptual paper to adapt a new dominant logic of marketing for understanding the consumer behaviour in the globalization. To compete in the globalisation or localisation, companies need the potential marketing strategy in order to sustain their market position; therefore, they have to find the effective way to understand how consumers consume in the dynamic world which consumers seek the value and symbolic meaning from their consumption beyond functional utilities. This leaded to call for the new dominant logic of marketing. Vargo and Lusch (2004a) respond to this call by proposing the "Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing" or "S-D logic", a marketing paradigm evolution which shifts from the firm-centric or good-centred view to the consumer-centric or service-centred view. The idea is presented by resource-based theory to explain firms' and consumers' operant and operand resources (figure 1). In figure 2, we synthesise the S-D logic with the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) by integrating theories of firms' resources and consumers' resources and adding the social dynamics within a group of consumers to understand the value co-creation process. This conceptual paper has several contributions to the consumer behaviour. First, it moves the level of consumer behaviour and consumption analysis from individuals to social dynamics. Second, because consumers in brand communities are an integral part of the co-creation value, the importance of consumer power to co-create value during their consumption has relevance to firms, as their control over the brand may be diminished. It advances the S-D logic in the value co-creation process between consumers and firms to emphasise co-creation among consumers who can jointly pressure firms to apply their core competencies to capture this value and process in order to create and deliver an effective value proposition. Finally, brand communities create value between consumers and consumers, and between consumers and marketers or brands in different forms and activities. Many researchers have been interested in the value from brand community which emerge from consumer interaction with brands or specific products, but very few researchers have concerned themselves with the co-creation value of consumers. Consequently, the question of "How do members of brand community co-create value", and "How do firms engage themselves with consumers' co-creation process" are asked. The response to this question provides a new perspective to the concept of brand community through linking the S-D logic of marketing, and CCT which suggests the idea of consumer co-creating values by the field.

Keywords: Branding, Brand Community, Brand Value, Service Dominant Logic, Co-creation

JEL Classification: M31, Z1