Innovating with stakeholders to co-create value in cultural tourism experiences: a case study of Schokland in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates how management at heritage visitor attractions (HVAs) can innovate with local stakeholders in the co-creation of value for visitors in cultural tourism experiences. Taking a case study of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Schokland in the Netherlands, thirteen interviews were conducted with management and local stakeholders over a five-year period. Our findings advance heritage management discourse by critically assessing HVAs regarding relationship management and innovations with stakeholders that drive development processes. We also contribute to service-dominant logic theory and value co-creation theory by applying the concept of co-creation to the collaborative innovations between management and local stakeholders, whilst offering practical recommendations for HVAs to co-create value for visitors.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation
• heritage visitor attraction
• value co-creation
• service-dominant logic
• cultural tourism
• Schokland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christina L. Mijnheer

Christina L. Mijnheer is an educational support manager at a University for film and photography. She has previous work experience in the tourism industry, working for Intercontinental Hotels, National Trust for Scotland and Tenzing Travel. She was awarded a Master’s degree within Distinction in Heritage and Cultural Tourism Management from Edinburgh Napier University in 2016. Prior to this, Christina was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree of Business Administration in International Hospitality Management from Stenden University in 2014. Her research interests include value co-creation, cultural heritage and sustainable tourism development.

Jordan R. Gamble

Jordan R. Gamble is a creative industry management researcher with over twelve years of experience. He was an Assistant Professor of Cultural and Creative Industry Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University from 2019-2021, where he taught and researched in the area of music industry management. Previously Jordan held a postdoctoral position at Edinburgh Napier University, where he conducted research into intangible cultural heritage and arts festival management in Scotland. Jordan’s publications include lead- and sole-authored research papers in CABS 3* journals, industry reports on cultural heritage and papers presented at international conferences such as the Association of Critical Heritage Studies Conference in Montreal in 2016. He obtained his PhD in Business and Management from Ulster University in 2015. Jordan’s research interests include user innovations, value co-creation, stakeholder management and marketing strategy within the creative and cultural industries. He was the recipient of the 2021 Emerging Scholar Award and the 2018 Babson College Bertarelli Family Award for Excellence in Research.