In this dissertation, service-dominant logic (S-D logic) is used as a meta-theory for analyzing various aspects of value co-creation in the context of services. Value co-creation is fundamental to understanding where and how S-D logic differs from goods-dominant logic (G-D logic). In their seminal article in 2004, Vargo and Lusch propose that the firm and the customer jointly create value, whereas the firm can only make value propositions (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). The customer also integrates own resources to co-create value with the firm. The first article in this thesis does not only focus on value co-creation, but introduces the concept of value co-destruction in the field of sport management. Moreover, the processes of value co-creation/destruction are not limited to a dyadic exchange between the customer and the firm. In service ecosystems, many different actors come together and jointly create value. The second article is based on this idea and deals with value co-creation practices in the professional football ecosystem where a variety of actors engages in value co-creation (e.g. club officials, fans, media etc.). According to S-D logic, value can only be assessed on an individual level. Here, the concept of experience is directly linked with the conceptualization that value is “phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary” (Vargo & Lusch, 2008, p. 7) from an S-D logic perspective. Thus, experiences only gain value at a subjective level just as value itself. Experiences have different characteristics on the basis of which they differentiate between commodities, goods or services (Pine & Gilmore, 1998) and emotions are central aspects of any experience. Another connotation of this dissertation is the idea that our emotional state is heavily influenced by others which points at the social dimension of emotions. Individuals share emotions, stimulate each other and feel connecting bonds in hedonic settings, which in turn increases value for the individual. The third article focuses on the social dimension of emotions, namely feelings of social connectedness that members of a crowd experience. Social emotions are especially interesting to analyze, because they involve value co-creation as an elemental feature. The papers presented in this dissertation view value co-creation at the micro-level, as individuals integrate different emotions on which others can build. Consequently, value co-creation cannot be seen as a linear process, in which one plus one equals two, but rather as non-linear. This dissertation adds to our knowledge about value co-creation processes. More specifically, this piece of work brings together ideas from emotion psychology, social psychology and consumer behavior research under the umbrella of service-dominant logic as a meta-theory.
