Digitally enabled value co-creation at the bottom of the pyramid

Research on the co-creation of value has proliferated since the introduction of service-dominant (S-D) logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2016) and service logic (SL) (Grönroos, 2006, 2011) in marketing theory and practice. It is argued that firms are moving from the goods-dominant logic perspective to the service-centred logic (Hartwig et al., 2021). There is an emerging consensus in the literature that value is always co-created as a result of interactions between multiple actors, and determined by the ultimate beneficiary (i.e. customers) through value-in-use (Merz et al., 2018). This value co-creation process is afforded by the technological platforms and enhanced by digital technologies (Ramaswamy & Ozcan, 2018; Balaji & Roy, 2017). However, most of the research on value co-creation originates from the developed economies, and limited attention has gone into examining this novel phenomenon from the perspective of bottom of the pyramid (BoP) customers in developing economies (Nahi, 2016).

Thus, the aim of this special issue is to push the boundary of academic knowledge in value co-creation by analysing its application in the BoP market. Whilst the concepts of both BoP and value co-creation have gained increased currency in marketing and management scholarship, there has been a limited focus thus far on the dynamics and kinetics of value co-creation at the BoP (Dey, Pandit, Saren, Bhowmick & Woodruffe-Burton 2016; Dembek et al., 2020; Mason et al., 2017; Nahi, 2016). The particular focus of this special issue is on the use of digital technology, which has created opportunities for exciting and novel empirical works. The scholarly works published in this special issue make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge by addressing this understudied area using a wide range of theoretical lenses and delivering empirical findings from myriad contexts.

We have studies conducted in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cameroon and with empirical findings that relate to the agriculture, healthcare, music, and food-processing sectors. We have also received a balanced mix of qualitative and quantitative studies. In addition, scholars have used various theoretical lenses, such as S-D logic, consumer culture theory, and affordance theory. All the papers offer critical insights into the concept of BoP and provide rich managerial and policy implications. One of the papers in particular has delved into the sustainability concept, while another paper recommends the strategic use of channels and agentic relationships. As such, we can identify useful directions for future research.

We begin with an article on digital commerce at the bottom of the pyramid. This is appropriate given the title of our special issue which explores digitally enabled value co-creation at the bottom of the pyramid. In this article, Utami, Alamanos and Kuznesof report on an inductive analysis based upon twenty in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews in rural and urban locations in Indonesia. Their study identifies value co-creation occurring in a newly emerging e-commerce marketing channel where digital technologies enable engagement and communication amongst the channel partners. The authors argue that the exchange ideology underpinning this approach is akin to a ‘social justice logic’, which can be viewed as an extension to the prevailing social dominant logic of value co-creation.

Apostolidis, Brown, Wijetunga and Kathriarachchi offer an insightful and fascinating study on how food waste mobile apps can support sustainable value co-creation at the BoP. Their study enriches current research on the BoP and value co-creation by bringing in the sustainability perspective, which has been highlighted in BoP 3.0. Furthermore, the study offers rich empirical insights into the use of mobile apps for the BoP segment in Sri Lanka. Finally, the authors have incorporated the dialectic nature of value co-creation through the critical assessment and incorporation of value co-destruction, which has received limited attention in the existing literature.

Cova, Barès and Nemani have analysed the formation of brand community amongst BoP consumers in Cameroon. In so doing, they study the case of a Cameroonian music platform created in 2015 that was quickly able to mobilise Cameroonian music fans to spread its reputation by word of mouth and to produce content. The paper highlights the importance of identifying opportunities that transcend commercial interests and can be achieved through co-creative support from the target customers.

Ranjan, Rohit, Dash and Singh’s paper provides deeper understanding of the co-creative social milieu and industrial ecosystem by analysing the agentic inter-relationship within the rural healthcare sector in India. The paper explains how organisations can harness the existing social structure and support mechanism to exploit and combine resources in a co-creative manner. Although the findings are context-specific, their propositions allude to the applicability of the research findings in other BoP contexts.

Akter, Mohiuddin Babu, Hossain and Hani have developed and validated a value co-creation model in the context of mobile healthcare for poor patients at the BoP by drawing on S-D logic and consumer culture theory (CCT). Their research reports on a study conducted in Bangladesh and makes a significant contribution by identifying value co-creation as a higher-order hierarchical construct that has both a direct and an indirect impact on patients’ quality of life. The paper also argues that empowerment plays an important role in the inter-relationships between value co-creation and patients’ quality of life.

Based on the data collected from the dyadic interactions between customers and the service staff of service firms in Vietnam, Tran and Vu argue that customer citizenship behaviour and customer participation behaviour are differentially linked to the customerisation capability and service capability of service firms which, in turn, affect customer-perceived outcome value and process value.

As shown, the six articles offer a critique of the current literature on digitally enabled value co-creation at the BoP that often goes hand-in-hand with the important challenges that marketers face in these uniquely different markets. Collectively and individually, these articles provide a strong theoretical foundation with relevant practical insights that can assist marketers in utilising digital technologies to create value at the BoP markets. Based on the findings of these selected papers, we assert that digitally enabled value co-creation at the BoP is a rich area of scholarly research. While we have noticed the continuous theoretical and chronological development of the BoP concept (BoP 2.0 and Bop 3.0) (Dembek et al., 2020; Du et al., 2021; Srivastava et al., 2020), it is imperative that value co-creation is considered an integral component of the future conceptualisation of the BoP market. Increased use of digital technologies in addressing BoP issues, connecting stakeholders, and innovating business models is crucial for future managerial and policy implications.