Value Co-Creation: Using a Viable Systems Approach to Draw Implications from Organizational Theories

Abstract

Scope of the paper is improving our understanding of value co-creation, one of the cornerstones of the Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, which is focused on the undertaking of specific human interactive forms; to accomplish this goals the paper analyzes several organization theories’ insights, and specifically configuration theory, structuration theory, effectuation theory and governance theory. These organizational theories, indeed, can be used to explain the nature of human collaboration within dyadic and/or network-based interactions. Specifically, by adopting a particular systems theory perspective, known as the "viable systems approach", this paper purports to integrate these theoretical perspectives, and thus provides insights into the nature of interactions required in the value co-creation process.

Keywords: Value co-creation, configuration theory, structuration theory, effectuation theory and governance theory, viable system approach