Literature Review and Proposed Conceptual Framework

Recently, the concept of value co-creation has gained popularity as it embraces customer and operant resources into the entire value-creation process, thereby overcoming the gaps of conventional marketing. In the last decade, literature of value co-creation gave multiple definitions to clarify the concept. The overlapping definitions became a source of confusion to both academics and practitioners. Realizing this need, a detailed structured literature review was undertaken and using a thematic content analysis, 27 elements of co-creation were identified. These elements were further classified into five pillars, namely: process environment, resource, co-production, perceived benefits and management structure. The paper presents a conceptualization of value co-creation by developing a framework that integrates five categories. This research is limited to the selected articles published on value co-creation in the first decade of the twenty-first century.