Sustainability Practices at Hotels and BnB Establishments …
337
3 Consumers as Co-creators
The relationship between consumption and production has been questioned in
the research. The two are no longer viewed as two separate processes (Firat and
Venkatesh 1995). Today the consumer is seen as a participant in the process and
one that creates a sense of the product. The consumer is thus a “co-producer” of his
consumption, as consumption is seen as an identification marker. The co-creating
act gives a sense of the product. Through its co-creation role becomes customers’
active participants in the experience of the product. Through the co-creation role, the
costumer becomes an active participant. At the same time, consumers are co-creators
of values. This new role for the consumer is significantly different from the passive
mass-market consumer in post-war consumption (Bergman and Klefsjö 2008, 2012;
Cohen 2004; Vargo and Lusch 2006). This division of production and consumption,
along with changing consumer roles and co-creation of value is shown most clearly in
relation to the experience of consumption. Emotions arise inside consumers’ heads
through a complex interaction between the stimuli outside the individual and the
person’s personality, past experiences, etc. Experience Consumption is co-hijacked
and consumers themselves clearly play an important role as contributors to the value
of the product.
Co-creation is a term that has been discussed in various contexts and has held
somewhat different connotations. Customer Participation has been defined as the
degree to which the customer is involved in producing and supplying a service
(Dabholkar 1990). Co-creation and customer engagement have also been noted as
important for innovation and product (Thrift 2006; Matthing et al. 2004).
The emphasis in the early literature was the co-production as a source of productivity gains (Lovelock and Young 1979; Mills et al. 1983). Today the focus is
on the customer’s participation in the construction of goods and services, and it is
suggested that customers can participate in the production and delivery through selfservice (e.g., self-service grocery stores and gas stations). However, according to
Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004a, b), the creative process cannot only be seen as a
tool to reduce production costs, but should be seen in relation to value creation. They
use the term co-creation in the sense that customers go from being passive audience
to become active co-creator of experiences. Co-creation is described in the experience economy as an environment, in which the supplier constructs context and the
consumer is part of it (e.g. Disneyland). Bendapudi and Leone (2003) argues that the
co-production may extend even further and is not only about customers’ involvement
and participation in a physical sense, but may also include psychological aspects.
Values are usually divided into subjective and objective values. This dichotomy
arises when we see values based on consumption (value-in-use) compared to the
value of trade (value in exchange). Value in Exchange values often expressed as
the price of a commodity. Values of products and services can also be divided into
utilitarian (benefit, e.g. such as fixing a car) and hedonistic (perceived feeling, e.g.
such as to experience a concert) (Strahilevitz and Myers 1998) and the so-called
novelties (novelty value, it is desirable for the moment.)
337
3 Consumers as Co-creators
The relationship between consumption and production has been questioned in
the research. The two are no longer viewed as two separate processes (Firat and
Venkatesh 1995). Today the consumer is seen as a participant in the process and
one that creates a sense of the product. The consumer is thus a “co-producer” of his
consumption, as consumption is seen as an identification marker. The co-creating
act gives a sense of the product. Through its co-creation role becomes customers’
active participants in the experience of the product. Through the co-creation role, the
costumer becomes an active participant. At the same time, consumers are co-creators
of values. This new role for the consumer is significantly different from the passive
mass-market consumer in post-war consumption (Bergman and Klefsjö 2008, 2012;
Cohen 2004; Vargo and Lusch 2006). This division of production and consumption,
along with changing consumer roles and co-creation of value is shown most clearly in
relation to the experience of consumption. Emotions arise inside consumers’ heads
through a complex interaction between the stimuli outside the individual and the
person’s personality, past experiences, etc. Experience Consumption is co-hijacked
and consumers themselves clearly play an important role as contributors to the value
of the product.
Co-creation is a term that has been discussed in various contexts and has held
somewhat different connotations. Customer Participation has been defined as the
degree to which the customer is involved in producing and supplying a service
(Dabholkar 1990). Co-creation and customer engagement have also been noted as
important for innovation and product (Thrift 2006; Matthing et al. 2004).
The emphasis in the early literature was the co-production as a source of productivity gains (Lovelock and Young 1979; Mills et al. 1983). Today the focus is
on the customer’s participation in the construction of goods and services, and it is
suggested that customers can participate in the production and delivery through selfservice (e.g., self-service grocery stores and gas stations). However, according to
Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004a, b), the creative process cannot only be seen as a
tool to reduce production costs, but should be seen in relation to value creation. They
use the term co-creation in the sense that customers go from being passive audience
to become active co-creator of experiences. Co-creation is described in the experience economy as an environment, in which the supplier constructs context and the
consumer is part of it (e.g. Disneyland). Bendapudi and Leone (2003) argues that the
co-production may extend even further and is not only about customers’ involvement
and participation in a physical sense, but may also include psychological aspects.
Values are usually divided into subjective and objective values. This dichotomy
arises when we see values based on consumption (value-in-use) compared to the
value of trade (value in exchange). Value in Exchange values often expressed as
the price of a commodity. Values of products and services can also be divided into
utilitarian (benefit, e.g. such as fixing a car) and hedonistic (perceived feeling, e.g.
such as to experience a concert) (Strahilevitz and Myers 1998) and the so-called
novelties (novelty value, it is desirable for the moment.)