Contextualization of Value Co-creation in the Endogenous Context : Multiple Cases of Public Transport in Zhengzhou and Chengdu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand and analyze the contextualization of value co-creation in the endogenous context. Analyzing how the five activities of value co-creation process are contextualized in a specific context can provide a better and deeper understanding for co-creating value with endogenous social and cultural values and norms. In this paper, value co-creation is contextualized in the public transport context from the Chinese perspective. Methodology/approach – This paper adopts a qualitative approach to analyze and understand the contextualization of value co-creation in endogenous context, using multiple case studies of the public transport from China: Zhengzhou and Chengdu public transport services. Discussing the contextualization of value co-creation process with the five activities, i.e. customer engagement, self-service, customer experience, problem-solving, and co-designing, allows us to explain and understand value co-creation in the Chinese endogenous context. Findings – This paper illustrates that contextualization of value co-creation in the endogenous context contributes to service business development. In this paper the five activities of value co-creation is integrating the concepts of value-in-social-context and value-in-cultural-context in different specific contexts, with endogenous social and cultural norms and values. This paper reveals the importance of contextualizing value co-creation process and the significant impacts of endogenous social and cultural issues in specific context, for better, easier, and more effective value co-creation. Originality/value – This paper makes original contributions to the ongoing discussion in service research, especially service-dominant logic (S-D logic) in endogenous thinking and the concepts of value-in-social-context and value-in-cultural-context. In service research, the main theoretical challenges are understanding and integrating endogenous thinking in specific contexts, wh