Information systems development as value co-creation

In this research, we investigate information systems development (ISD) as value co-creation and how different actors perform co-creation as an ISD approach. For this purpose, we present a case study of an ISD project that developed a digital game on the topic of climate change in a not-for-profit, intergovernmental context. The project had limited resources. It involved a number of youth and used a social media platform. We apply a taxonomic framework for value co-creation that we derived from a taxonomy of Web-based co-creation. The taxonomy had originally been developed for a commercial context and researchers have not empirically validated it before. Our study shows that the taxonomic framework explains the project as value co-creation especially with regard to co-creators’ motivation and the types of value they created. We further discuss our findings in reference to information systems (IS) literature on service innovation. This literature contributes to additionally explaining what value co-creation is and how one can perform it as an instance of ISD practice. Against this background, we offer some propositions for how future ISD research could benefit from adopting a value co-creation perspective. Although we derived our findings from a specific project in a particular setting, we argue that they can be used to 1) prepare any co-creation project, 2) cope with co-creation during the development process by explaining co-creation as an approach to ISD, and 3) reflect and derive lessons learnt. While researchers need to further empirically validate these claims, we develop insight into value co-creation in ISD with respect to participatory approaches to ISD beyond conventional environments, roles, and participant and contributor types. © 2020 by the Association for Information Systems.