A new conceptualization of service innovation grounded in S-D logic and service systems

Abstract

Engelsk sammendrag (abstract): Purpose—This article conceptualizes service innovation through a service-dominant logic (S-D logic) lens and with a service system foundation. Design/methodology/approach—This conceptual approach entails not only the service-dominant logic but also structuration theory to emphasize the actor’s perspective on service innovation. Because the value of innovation unfolds in practice, this study denotes customers as the key actors in value co-creation in context. Findings—A resource constellation gets reconfigured in a service system, which explains service innovation from an S-D logic perspective and highlights customers’ value co-creation in practice. The focus is on the interdependencies among the configuration of resources in a service system and schemas that shape customers and other actors as they integrate resources and co-create value. Research limitations/implications—By discussing service innovation in a structuration view, it would be possible to gain a better understanding of the guiding principles or schemas that enable actors to co-create value. Originality/value—Service innovation derives from changes in either resources or schemas (norms and rules) or some a combination thereof, and it results in structural changes to the service system. This conceptualization provides (a) a new definition of service innovation, (b) a new framework to describe the interdependency among change resources and schemas as a basis for an innovative configuration or reconfiguration of a service system, and (c) three propositions that illustrate the relevance of the new framework.