Smart Mobility: Contradictions in Value Co-Creation

• Published in: Information systems frontiers Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 1 - 21
• Main Authors: Schulz, Thomas, Gewald, Heiko, Böhm, Markus, Krcmar, Helmut
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Springer US 01.06.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Access to information; Activity theory; Big Data; Business and Management; Car sharing; Control; Customer services; Data analysis; Information systems; Inhibitors; Integrators; IT in Business; Management of Computing and Information Systems; Operations Research/Decision Theory; Public transportation; Service-dominant logic; Smart mobility; Smartphones; Systems Theory; Value co-creation; Value co-creation; Activity theory; Smart mobility; Service-dominant logic
• DOI: 10.1007/s10796-020-10055-y
• ISSN: 1572-9419; 1387-3326

Technical progress is disrupting the mobility sector. New door-to-door (D2D) mobility integrators promise to offer smart mobility by packaging together different mobility services such as car-sharing and public transport. However, mobility providers up to now have rarely entered into value co-creation relationships. As a result, citizens are offered mobility that cannot be considered truly smart. Although value co-creation has been the subject of numerous studies taking the service-dominant logic perspective, this research has often lacked empirical evidence. To close this gap, we conceptualize value co-creation between mobility providers and a D2D mobility integrator by applying Activity Theory. Based on a qualitative study in the German mobility sector, we identify several inhibitors of value co-creation from the viewpoint of mobility providers. In addition, we show how these inhibitors serve as triggers for adaptations, ultimately leading to the formation of a value co-creation relationship.