How service innovation shapes value creation in multi-stakeholder system: a social construction approach

Purpose. Service innovation is more and more framed as a process of value co-creation within a multistakeholder service system. Due to the heterogeneity of actors and contexts involved in service innovation, the social dimension appears to be important, even if not adequately analyzed until now. In this paper we adopt social construction theories as a lens to explore the relationship between service innovation and value co-creation in a multi-stakeholder setting. In particular, we focus on the role of sense-making and boundary objects in enabling service innovation through resource integration. Design/Methodology/Approach Close to relativist epistemology, this study is the outcome of contextual knowledge. An interactive, qualitative, multi-case-study approach is applied to gain insights into the investigated phenomena. We studied service innovation in practice within networks of the service system. We deepened the role of social context and social structures affecting and being affected by value-enabling innovation. In this paper, findings concern a judgment sample formed by ten cases operating in the food market Findings In a multi-stakeholder system service innovation takes place through networked resource integration, where the resources to be integrated can be cultural, social, collective, and linked to live contextual experiences. As a matter of fact, in the cases investigated innovation is seen as a new value proposition about food provision that allows a different way of integrating resources for actors: the process of serving food changes, as well as the practices involved. Practical implications There is great potential in applying the concept of boundary objects to the food industry, where boundary objects could link not only the worlds of scientists and nonscientists, but those of (expert) producers and (lay) consumers. Originality Service innovation is framed as a collective phenomenon based on the creation and sharing of new meanings within multi-stakeholder systems.