Customers’ responses to institutional complexity in the determination of value (Naples Forum on Service-konferenssin 2019 abstrakti)
Elina Jaakkola; Stephen L. Vargo; Larissa Carine Braz Becker
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021042823888
Tiivistelmä
Purpose –To understand how value is created,
marketing scholars increasingly highlight the role of institutions and
institutional arrangements that guide the assessment of value. However, customers are embedded in several institutional arrangements
that may offer distinct prescriptions for actors’ behavior and frame for
sensemaking (i.e., institutional complexity). Customers experience the effects
of institutional complexity in a variety of consumption contexts (e.g.,
sustainable consumption vs. overconsumption). If firms want to offer compelling
value propositions to their customers, they need to understand how they resolve
these internal conflicts derived from institutional complexity. Therefore, the
goal of this article is to understand how
customers deal with institutional complexity in relation to the determination
of value.
Design/Methodology/approach
– In this
conceptual paper, we reframe and reconcile literature from institutional theory, identity theory, reference groups, and paradoxes to
build a service-dominant (S-D) logic conceptual framework that explains how
customers cope with institutional complexity when determining the value of a
proposition.
Findings – Customers experience anxiety and discomfort
when facing contradictory prescriptions for the determination of value. In
order to make sense of this tension, they need to respond to institutional
complexity. Customer can respond in at least three different ways. First, they
can choose between the conflicting institutional arrangements, placing a
greater emphasis in one prescription over another, and thus following that
prescription for the determination of value. Second, customers can use
resources from both institutional arrangements to reframe the contradiction and
accommodate the conflicting prescriptions for the determination of value.
Third, customers can separate what they do from who they are to resolve the
tension.
Research limitations/implications
(if applicable) – While
value is determined in context, a customer may be embedded in several, possibly
conflicting, contexts simultaneously. This study shows how customers determine
the (potential) value of a proposition when facing contradicting prescriptions
to do so. We expect this work generates implications for related topics where
customers frequently face similar situations (e.g., sustainability).
Practical implications
(if applicable) – Offering
compelling value propositions requires understanding how customers determine
their value. This study offers guidelines on how to make value propositions
more compelling through the (de)legitimation of institutional arrangements.
Originality/value – While previous work in S-D logic
has established that institutions influence the determination of value, this
study adds to this literature by trying to explain how customers determine
value in face of institutional complexity, which is an inherent condition in
service ecosystems.
Kokoelmat
- Rinnakkaistallenteet [19207]