A Closer Look at the Endless Applicabilities: An Exploratory Investigation into Co-creation in Tourism

Abstrakt

The concept of the co-creation of value has come as a reaction to the change in mentality taken towards the manner of looking at value, value processes and the value-chain. This activity involves asking consumers to participate in the creation of a service. This practice aids firms opportunity to have access valuable resources, like customer insight. This process has benefits for the consumer as well whereby a co-creative individual has the opportunity to be more engaged with the firm which in turn results in increased loyalty and satisfaction. This new business practice is one that has aided firms in to have a greater focus on their consumer relationships. The business sphere which is classic example, where such activities are applicable is the tourism sphere, as it a market whereby two actors interact and furthermore benefit from one another. Although such applications are apparent, it is still a field which is in an young stage. It is therefore the research field´s infantile nature, which presents the issue that more research must be made. This leads to the research question: “What are the current research gaps within the literary field of co-creation in tourism?” Through the utilization of an analytical framework, the analysis investigates what gaps are present within the current literature. This will not only illustrates the more obvious frequential gaps in addition to those that are more granular in nature. From this rather than suspending the research once these gaps have been expounded, the research will go on to further corroborate the findings. This is achieved through the operation of a number of interviews with the authors of the articles featured within the literature review. These discussions display a group of common topics that are set by the research as definite gaps within the “co-creation in tourism” field. These missing links are associated with the Role of Top Management, the lack of a shared Conceptual Understanding of Co-Creation, a need for more Relationship-Focused Stakeholder Co-Creation, as well as a better comprehension of the negative consequences of co-creation in the structure of Value (Co-) Destruction. It can be observed that the conceptual underpinnings of the co-creative concept have come to a point whereby the applicabilities are endless. However, it is found that in order for the “co-creation in tourism” field to develop in a constructive manner, it is critical that the four expounded gaps are investigated. In addition to this, it is found that although each singular gap has the opportunity to add to the co-creative discussion, it is the culmination of all four missing links, which will consequently aid both researchers and practitioners to understand the most applicable circumstances for co-creation in tourism.