Knowledge Co-Creation and Co-Created Value in the Service for the Elderly

The number of the elderly who face difficulties in their buying behavior of their daily life is increasing, in Japan. A service for the elderly such as services for supporting buying behavior of the elderly is needed. The purpose of this study is to identify knowledge co-creation in the service for the elderly and how co-created knowledge enables the elderly to enhance their quality of life as a well-being oriented value. The authors conducted qualitative research through a participant observation of support services regarding the buying behavior of the elderly and analyzed the data by a grounded theory approach. As a result, this study identified that there are three types of knowledge co-creation in support services: regional state, how a commodity is consumed, and consumer characteristics. This study also identified that there are three well-being oriented values co-created in support services: enhancement of the quality of life of the elderly, employee satisfaction, and accumulation of well-being provision skills.