Conceptualizing blockchain-based value co-creation: A service science perspective

Co-creation and open innovation have become an important source of competitive advantage. Over the past decades, huge amounts of information have become accessible to the external stakeholders of the organizations, changing the traditional value creation processes. However, co-creation comes with its challenges, including the complex engagement of stakeholders, difficulties in opening up value chains and issues of trust and intellectual property. The arrival of blockchain and cryptographic asset-driven decentralized technologies has brought to the world an entirely new spectrum of possibilities regarding social, financial and technological innovations. Now it is possible to achieve superior levels of transparency, security and fairness to the public, especially when compared with the rather limited business models that dominate Web 2.0 commercial products. While the first applications of blockchain technology were for digital currency transactions, that same technology is now being applied to the development of the blockchain-based decentralized platforms. This calls for research to integrate other relevant fields such as organizational management, public policy, community engagement and marketing. This qualitative preliminary study aims to build an integrative and transdisciplinary framework of blockchain service ecosystems based on theoretical premises of Service Science through which blockchain-based value co-creation can be analysed. The systemic approach presented in this paper provides much-needed guidance for developers of decentralized organizations on how to create sustainable platforms and to maintain them profitable in the long run. The focus of the proposed conceptual model is to initiate a scholarly curiosity in understanding possible solutions and potential impact of blockchain technology in the way we collaborate as a society.