Value co-creation with customers: a conceptual model of the key role of servant leadership and employee motivation
| Autor | Maria Angeles Garcia-Haro, Pablo Ruiz-Palomino, Jorge Linuesa-Langreo, Ricardo Martínez-Cañas |
| Cargo del Autor | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya/Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha/Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha/Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha |
| Páginas | 189-197 |
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Maria Angeles Garcia-Haro,
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Pablo Ruiz-Palomino,
Jorge Linuesa-Langreo
Ricardo Martínez-Cañas
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Abstract
In recent times, there has been a paradigm shift from classic, firm-centric and top-down value creation
to more open approaches, such as value co-creation. In this collaborative innovation process, involving
the different stakeholders is key to guaranteeing the success of the products and services developed.
Consequently, and for a better understanding of this co-creation concept, a holistic, greatly renewed
and interdisciplinary understanding of its antecedents is needed. However, while mainstream existing
research has focused on analyzing external co-creation from a customer perspective, the involvement
of organizations and employees in co-creating value is still unclear. The main purpose of this chapter
is to analyze servant leadership and motivations as antecedents of employees’ intention to participate
in co-creation processes with customers. To this end, and building on servant leadership and
motivation theory, we develop a conceptual analysis and model to explain the formation of employees’
value co-creation.
Keywords: Servant Leadership, Motivation to co-create, Value Co-creation
1.! INTRODUCTION
With the democratization of value creation , everyone with access to collaborative technology
is willing to participate and contribute, adding value (through online or offline processes) in
organizations, social communities, sharing platforms, crowdsourcing programs, and makerspaces
(Redlich et al., 2017). In this turbulent and collaborative environment, the classic producer-centered
economic concepts and management methods have failed to provide firms and institutions with
appropriate and updated strategical tools. In contrast, different concepts, together with new and
validated approaches derived from the sharing economy, peer-to-peer producti on, open innovation,
open production, crowdsourcing, user innovation and co-creation, have gained interest as explanatory
factors.
In recent years, the value co-creation process has been the subject of attention in the academic
literature as a primary factor for organizational sustainability and competitiveness (Prahalad and
Ramaswamy, 2004; Font et al., 2021). In this regard, the high competitiveness and increased demand
and personalization of customers has led to an increasing number of companies seeking to offer
customers a unique experience with the aim of enhancing their level of loyalty and satisfaction (Vega-
Vázquez et al
.
, 2013). Especially, the behavior of employees is considered a key factor for the success
of organizations, since it directly affe cts the decisions of customers and their impression of the
organization (Yi and Gong, 2008; Hsiao et al., 2015). Therefore, having employees that are motivated
is essential to ensure the success of the organization in its relationship with customers (Erdogan, 2019).
Organizations must create a suitable work environment so that their employees feel respected,
rewarded and motivated to grow (King, 1995). To achieve this motivation in their empl oyees, it is
essential to develop effective management and thus ensure employees feel more engaged with the
organization and are involved in the relationship with customers (Erdogan, 2019). In t his line, one of
the fundamental factors that enhances employee motivation is the leadership implemented by
executive directors (CEOs), middle managers and supervisors within the organization (Barbuto, 2005;
Yukl, 2008).
Currently, one of the leadership styles that improves the leader-follower relationship and
employee motivation is servant leadership (Jaramillo et al., 2015), which is a unique leadership
approach that, as its name suggests, focuses on serving others: employees, customers, and society in a
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