This study is rooted in the Service Dominant Logic (SDL) theory and explores the phenomenon of value co-destruction, the context being chatbot-mediated customer service, with a focusing on chatbots affiliation with value-co-destruction and on the impacts outsideof the dyadic relationship between the service provider and receiver, described as the broader consumer ecosystem. It is evident that the relationship between businesses and consumers is being revolutionized through the implementation of chatbots, claiming benefits such as improved operational efficiency, and non-time specific service. However, Plé (2017) argues that SDL research is overly focused on value co-creation and not enough on value codestruction, as well as being too narrowly focused on specific factors, therefore more studies are needed in exploring the effects on the broader ecosystem involved. Therefore, this study aims to explore the value co-destruction and its effects on the broader consumer ecosystem. The research was conducted using a qualitative method, through an interpretivist research philosophy to collect data in the form of the subjective and personal experiences of customers. It also utilized an abductive approach to allow for the generation of new insights through combining established knowledge, empirical evidence, and theory to formulate a proposition and interpretation beyond what is initially apparent. Through semi-structured interviews, 9 participants with prior experiences of customer service orientated interactions with chatbots across various industries were conducted. To analyze the data, a thematic analysis was employed where the findings indicate that in chatbot interactions which result in value co-destruction the effects affect a broader number of stakeholders in the consumer ecosystem such as family and friends.

Som följd av den digitala och teknologiska utveckling som genomsyrat 2010-talet, har konkurrensen bland företag ökat, då det blivit lättare för konkurrenter att träda in på marknaden. Den ökade konkurrensen har i sin tur inneburit att företag blivit mer motiverade att implementera olika strategier för att bygga en djupare relation till sina kunder, för att få dem att stanna kvar hos dem istället för att välja en konkurrent. En av dessa strategier som företag implementerar i allt större utsträckning är att engagera sina kunder. Detta handlar om att initiera ageranden från kund som går utöver transaktioner.Genom att engagera sina kunder, kan företag skapa värde tillsammans med dem, vilket i sin tur kan leda till förbättrade relationer och lönsamhet. Kundens engagemang kan dock även resultera i värdeförstörande, om det inte hanteras på rätt sätt. Detta kan orsaka konsekvenser i form av förlorade kunder och försämrat rykte för företaget.Syftet med vår studie är att skapa en djupare förståelse för om och hur företags arbete med kundengagemang kan leda till värdeskapande eller värdeförstörande. Vi vill undersöka om företag tar dessa olika utfall i beaktning och hur de i så fall arbetar för att främja värdeskapande och undvika värdeförstörande.För att undersöka detta har vi studerat hur företag inom olika branscher arbetar med att skapa engagemang via sociala kanaler. Detta eftersom utvecklingen på sociala kanaler har gått i samma takt som övrig teknik och hela tiden förändras, samt för att majoriteten av företag idag är aktiva på dessa. Vi har genomfört sju kvalitativa djupintervjuer med personer ansvariga över respektive företags sociala kanaler. Den teoretiska bakgrunden om Customer Relationship Management (hädanefter CRM), Social CRM (hädanefter SCRM), kundengagemang, gemensamt värdeskapande och gemensamt värdeförstörande har ställts i förhållande till det material som insamlats från intervjuerna. Genom detta har vi kunnat besvara studiens problemformulering:Hur skapar företag kundengagemang med hjälp av sociala kanaler?Resultatet av studien visar att företag skapar kundengagemang genom att initiera olika typer av interaktioner med sina kunder. I vilken utsträckning företagen skapar engagemang samt hur mycket de tar hjälp av sociala kanaler för att göra detta varierar mellan dem. Resultaten visar även att värde både kan skapas och förstöras i företagens arbete med kundengagemang, vilket bland annat kan bero på företagets resurser närvarande på sociala kanaler, ömsesidighet och felaktiga interaktioner. Företag som strävar efter att skapa kundengagemang med hjälp av sina sociala kanaler behöver därmed tänka på dessa aspekter för att främja värdeskapande och förhindra värdeförstörande.

Interactions are of critical importance in business-to-business contexts, and value seems to be influenced by the interactions between the supplier, customer and other third parties where these interactions co-creates value. However, as the literature has mostly focused on the positive value co-creation, the interactions that result in failure is instead co-destroying value. This thesis is therefore going to study the negative interaction outcome, value co-destruction, in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms from a supplier perspective, where interactions are shown to be critical, to explore proactive practices that could be utilized in order to prevent value co-destruction between the customer and the KIBS firm as well as practices to recover from value codestruction. Through a qualitative multiple-case study, the data was collected from KIBS representatives in the IT-industry in Sweden, that provided empirical data to further nuance the phenomenon. Customer education, unveiling business opportunities, customer surveys, and business events was discovered to be used for proactively preventing value co-destruction, where the authors also found the time aspect of the relationship between value co-creation and value co-destruction to be of importance in preventing miscommunications that result in value co-destruction. Therefore, the authors of this thesis argue that miscommunications and acknowledgment of the miscommunication that co-destroys value often occurs at different time points, where the proactive practices might be targeted towards preventing the miscommunication or targeted towards the recovery from the value co-destruction.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explain and to create an understanding if personalized advertising online creates value for customers.  Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study through 14 semi-structured interviews.  Findings: The study found personalized advertising to be seen as value co-creation in some cases, but because privacy concerns exist and affect the perception of advertising, it can in many cases lead to value co-destruction instead. It is thus a consideration between privacy concerns and the perceived value of the personalized advertising that decides if the offering will co-create or co-destroy value.  Research limitations/implications for future research: Our study did not involve respondents’ younger than 21 years old, which could have affected the result as this is a generation seen as technology savvy. Through a quantitative study, future research could try to find extremes in personalities by conducting a survey with a large sample of people in different ages, nationalities, gender, active online, etc. in order to see if there are correlations between for example age and privacy concerns.  Practical implications: One purpose of the study is to provide companies with insights of how different customers perceive personalized advertising online in terms of customer value in order for companies to know how to think when targeting their customers.  Keywords: online advertising, personalized advertising, personalized-privacy paradox, privacy concerns, value creation, value co-creation, value co-destruction.

Within sports, supporters are an essential actor for how the experience at the stadiums will turn out during games. They are the primary customers while also being a part of the experience for everyone else consuming the sport. It is the supporters in the stands who creates the atmosphere through commitment and chants which complement the experience of watching the game. The aim of the study was to understand how supporters can create and destroy value for themselves and other actors, but also which factors influence their actions. The study was conducted from a Service Dominant Logic perspective since it is well suited to apply theories within co-creation and co-destruction to explain how different actors can affect each other during the value creating process. The study is conducted with supporters of the Swedish ice hockey club Färjestad BK. Twelve qualitative interviews were conducted with active supporters. The result confirms earlier research where it is stated that supporters are essential for sport clubs since they are crucial for creating the atmosphere. The study explains how supporters act as working consumers when they apply their resources to co-create or co-destroy value. The study indicates that supporters’ negative effect on value creation is a large risk for clubs and they can easily co-destroy value since active supporter groups are very influential and emotionally invested actors. It is also shown that the expectations and desires which supporters have before the games plays a major role in whether they are going to contribute to the value creation process or not. The study suggests that clubs should focus on the relationship with their active supporters since they are a major asset while also being a risk for the club. They can deliver unique value which is not possible for the club to create by themselves. / Inom sport så är supportrar en viktig aktör för hur upplevelsen blir inne på arenorna. Supportrar är både de primära kunderna och en del av upplevelsen för övriga som konsumerar sporten, då det är supportrarna på läktaren som skapar stämningen genom sitt engagemang och sång vilket kompletterar upplevelsen för alla utöver själva sporten. Studiens syfte var att skapa förståelse för hur sportsupportrar agerar som värdeskapare och värdeförstörare samt vilka faktorer som påverkar deras roll i värdeskapandeprocessen. Studien har utförts på supportrar utifrån ett Service Dominant Logic perspektiv då det möjliggör tillämpning av teorier inom samskapande och samförstörande för att kunna förklara hur olika aktörer påverkar varandra. Studien har utförts på basis av supportrar till ishockeyklubben Färjestad BK. Det har genomförts tolv kvalitativa intervjuer med aktiva supportrar. Resultatet från studien bekräftar tidigare forskning om hur viktiga supportrar är för klubbens välbefinnande då de är en väldigt stor del av upplevelsen. Studien visar indikationer på att supportrars negativa påverkan på värdeskapandet är en stor risk för klubbar, samt att supportrars förväntningar och önskemål påverkar hur de kommer arbeta för att skapa eller förstöra värde. Klubbar måste bli bättre på att tillvarata den tillgången som aktiva supportergrupper är, både för att de kan leverera unikt värde men även för att minska risken att de förstör värde för övriga åskådare.

Abstract The purpose of this cumulative dissertation is to introduce service, conceptualized by service-dominant logic, as a new explanatory framework to improve the understanding of sustainable development. Sustainability is a megatrend that challenges business and marketers to act upon and respond to global social and environmental problems. Even after over more than five decades of research related to sustainability there is a gap in the transformation to sustainable development of firms and society in large. Specifically, there appears to be a significant gap between sustainable awareness and the actual sustainable behavior of actors and organizations. A systematic approach to the topic of greenwashing is provided, including relevant approaches for its avoidance. Furthermore, the dissertation urges the need of a systematic and more general theoretic framework to connect marketing as a social science with sustainable development instead of fragmenting marketing in sub-disciplines (e.g., sustainable marketing, societal marketing, marketing ethics, etc.). S-D logic is proposed as model of marketing covering three dichotomies: (1) micro/macro, (2) positive (questioning what is?) / normative (questioning what ought to be), and (3) profit sector/nonprofit sector. S-D logic´s narrative is the continuing story of actors interacting, resource integrating and exchanging service, and co-creating value through service ecosystems, governed and evaluated through their institutional arrangements. Though with regards to sustainable development the reflection on conceptualizing value co-destruction is critical. For instance, through the value co-creation process negative value might be created for one actor, both actors, third parties, society, or nature. A strong conceptual link between the process of co-creation of value and the process of value co destruction is ascertainable in the sense of contra indication. In addition, the findings of a literature review indicate that further attention should be paid to imbalance, conflict and power relations between actors and the service ecosystem. Furthermore, the concept of service is extended beyond the human-created phenomenon, by observing that ecosystem services exist in the natural world. A change of perspective on nature is proposed to see nature no longer as a source of resource or a simple resource but as a services provider. Thus, the underlying human-nature relationships may improve.:Abstract III I Table of contents IV II List of Publications: VI III List of Figures VII IV List of Tables VIII 1 General Introduction 1 1.1 Purpose and scope 1 1.2 Theoretical introduction 3 1.2.1 Reason for a new theoretical framework for sustainable development 4 1.2.2 Service as the underlying process for sustainable development 7 1.2.3 S-D logic´s evolvement to a concept of service ecosystem 9 1.2.4 Conceptualizing value co-destruction 11 1.3 Structure of the dissertation 22 1.4 General Summary 24 1.4.1 Summarizing the implications of S-D logic and sustainable development 24 1.4.2 Outlook on general future research for evolving S-D logic in the field of sustainable development 26 1.4.2.1 Creation of value and well-being through fast, sacrifice, or renouncement 27 1.4.2.2 Improve the understanding for micro-macro paradox 27 1.4.2.3 Extension of the human-centric S-D logic to a more general service concept 28 1.4.2.4 Conceptualization of power relations in a service ecosystem 28 1.4.2.5 Pursuing the idea of destructive co-creation of value 30 2 Die normative Ordnung der service-dominierten Logik für ein komplexes Wertnetzwerk–ein innovativer Weg zu mehr Nachhaltigkeit? 32 2.1 Einführung 32 2.2 Das Triple-Bottom-Line-Konzept 34 2.3 Die S-D Logik und die Chance zur normativen Ordnung eines komplexen Wertnetzwerks für mehr Nachhaltigkeit 40 2.3.1 Verbesserung der normativen Ordnung für ein innovatives Nachhaltigkeitskonzept 40 2.3.2 Normative Ordnung im sozialen Raum 42 2.3.3 Einführung in die S-D Logik 44 2.3.4 S-D Logik und nachhaltige Entwicklung 49 2.4 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 53 3 Avoiding Greenwashing in Event Marketing: An Exploration of Concepts, Literature and Methods 56 3.1 Introduction 57 3.2 Literature review 59 3.2.1 Characteristics of greenwashing in event marketing 59 3.2.2 Current approaches to avoid greenwashing in event marketing 61 3.2.2.1 Identifying greenwashing and its impacts through measurement 63 3.2.2.2 Developing and applying internal rules 65 3.2.2.3 Creating a (multi-)stakeholder approach 66 3.2.2.4 Realignment according to laws and statutory regulations 68 3.2.2.5 Applying eco-labelling 69 3.3 Discussion, implications and further research 73 3.3.1 Discussion 73 3.3.2 Theoretical contributions and practical implications 75 3.3.3 Limitations and future research 78 4 Service Dominant Logic as a New Fundamental Framework for Analyzing Event Sustainability: A Case Study from the German Meetings Industry 80 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 Literature review 84 4.2.1 S-D Logic as a new approach for the sustainable development of events 84 4.2.2 Events and the Service Dominant logic 84 4.3 S-D Logic and (event) sustainability 89 4.4 Case study 92 4.4.1 Case study context 92 4.4.2 Data collection 93 4.4.3 Data analysis 94 4.4.4 Findings 95 4.4.4.1 Micro level 96 4.4.4.2 Meso level 99 4.4.4.3 Macro level 102 4.5 Discussion 106 4.5.1 Theoretical contributions 109 4.5.2 Practical implications 110 4.5.3 Limitations and future research 111 References 114 Darstellung des wissenschaftlichen Werdegangs 137 Selbständigkeitserklärung 139 Bibliographische Darstellung 140

Bakgrund: Den ökade globaliseringen har ökat konkurrensen på B2B marknaden markant. Detta har bidragit till att det blir allt mer aktuellt att se till interaktionen som sker mellan olika företag och till det värde som uppstår i samspelet mellan olika aktörer för att kunna differentiera sitt värdeerbjudande från konkurrenterna. Den expanderande marknaden lämnade även utrymme för mjuka värden som går att spåra tillbaka till marknadsföraren - som länge ansetts vara av liten vikt inom B2B, såsom relationer och intellektuellt kapital. Syfte: Studien syftar till att addera ett perspektiv på värdesamskapande processer inom B2B genom att se till den externa marknadsföraren i interaktion och i olika faser av varumärkesbyggande. Eftersom varje aktör gör stort avtryck inom B2B bidrar studien till befintlig forskning genom att observera marknadsföraren som extern aktör i en kontext där deras roll hittills är bristfälligt granskad. Metod: Studiens metod består av semistrukturerade intervjuer som hade utgångspunkt i en intervjuguide, en fallstudie som innehöll flertalet deltagande observationer och som pågick under 4 månader samt dokumentstudier. Metoden och kodning av materialet utgick från studiens valda referensram; tjänstelogiken och Servbrand Framework. Den valda metoden identifierades som mest lämplig för att komma åt respondenternas och de studerade objektets egna erfarenheter och perspektiv inom den valda domänen. Resultat: Resultatet visar att marknadsförarens roll är av essentiell karaktär inom alla faser. De egenskaper som var mest avgörande initialt visade sig vara marknadsförarens förmåga att tolka kunden och alla omständigheter som präglade varumärket samt att kunna tydligt kunna kommunicera dess värden i interaktion. Denna kommunikation visade sig genomgående vara viktigt att upprätthålla för att bygga ett starkt varumärke. Slutsatser: Studien bekräftar att Servbrand Framework är en relevant modell för varumärkesbyggande inom B2B även ur marknadsförarens perspektiv. De kvaliteter knutna till marknadsföraren som var avgörande för värdesamskapande kunde härledas från de aspekter som ingick i de olika faserna. Det är när immateriella resurser hos marknadsföraren saknas som man misslyckas med att skapa värde i interaktion. / Background: The increased globalization has significantly promoted competition in the B2B market. This has contributed to the growing importance of considering the interaction that takes place between different companies and the value that emerges from the interplay among various actors, in order to differentiate one's value proposition from competitors. The expanding market has also created room for intangible values that can be traced back to the marketer – which previously have been regarded as of little importance in the B2B context – such as relationships and intellectual capital. Purpose: The study aims to add a perspective on value-creating processes in the B2B market by looking at the external marketer in interaction and in different phases of branding. Since each actor makes a big impression in B2B, the study contributes to existing research by observing the marketer as an external actor in a context where their role has so far been insufficiently examined. Methodology: The study utilized a mixed-methods approach, incorporating semi-structured interviews based on an interview guide, a case study involving multiple participant observations conducted over a four-month period, and document analysis. The methodology and coding of the material were guided by the chosen theoretical framework of service dominant logic and the Servbrand Framework. The selected method was deemed most appropriate for capturing the respondents' and the studied objects' own experiences and perspectives within the chosen domain. Findings: The results indicate that the role of marketers is of essential nature across all phases. The characteristics that were most crucial initially were found to be the marketer's ability to interpret the customer and all the circumstances that influenced the brand, as well as effectively communicating its values in interactions. This communication was found to be important for maintaining a strong brand. Conclusion: The study confirms that the Servbrand Framework is a relevant model for brand building in B2B, even from the marketer's perspective. The qualities associated with the marketer that were crucial for value creation could be traced back to the aspects included in the different phases. It is when the marketer lacks intangible resources that value creation in interactions fails.

Compared to traditional in-store shopping, online shopping has several benefits which implies that an increasingly number of consumers are shopping over the internet. Despite the popularity of online shopping, there are also several problems and negative aspects with this consumption approach. Previous service research has to a small extent studied value formation in relation to online shopping. In addition, research on value formation has mostly investigated positive aspects in the terms of value co-creation. On the other hand, the negative aspects of value formation, which are termed value co- destruction, have not been investigated to the same extent. This study is based on the service-dominant logic perspective on value formation where a qualitative research of consumers' experiences of online shopping was conducted. This in purpose to increase the understanding of how consumers co-create and co-destroy value in online shopping, and thus contribute to knowledge development in research on value formation. In order to collect empirical data, semi-structured interviews have been used to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between online shopping and value formation. The results of the study were subsequently analyzed in relation to the theoretical framework. The most important findings of the study are that consumer expectations are central in value formation. When these expectations are fulfilled consumers experience online shopping as value co-creation, but when expectations are not fulfilled it becomes value co-destruction. The findings of this study are in line with previous research on the fact that a congruence regarding which engagements, procedures and understandings that are relevant in a specific interaction implicates value co-creation and that incongruence instead results in value co-destruction. One contradiction to previous research, however, is that incongruent perceptions of praxis in a given interaction are not always negative since the findings from this study shows that consumer expectations have sometimes been exceeded. Hence, value co-creation has occurred despite incongruent perceptions. The study also shows that value-in-exchange is at least as important as value-in-use since many consumers choose online shopping because of cheaper prices. / Jämfört med traditionell handel i butik är onlineshopping förknippat med ett flertal fördelar vilket inneburit att allt fler konsumenter handlar över internet. Trots onlineshoppingens popularitet finns det också åtskilliga problem och negativa aspekter med detta konsumtionssätt. Tidigare tjänsteforskning har i liten utsträckning studerat värdeformering i samband med onlineshopping. Forskning kring värdeformering har dessutom mestadels undersökt positiva aspekter i form av värdesamskapande. De negativa aspekterna av värdeformering, som benämns värdesamförstörande, har däremot inte undersökts i samma utsträckning. Denna studie utgår från det tjänstedominanta perspektivet på värdeformering där en kvalitativ undersökning av konsumenters upplevelser av onlineshopping genomförts. Detta i syfte att bidra till att öka förståelse för hur konsumenter samskapar respektive samförstör värde vid onlineshopping och därmed bidra till kunskapsutveckling inom forskningen om värdeformering. För insamlandet av empiriska data har semistrukturerade intervjuer använts för att få en djupare förståelse kring relationen mellan onlineshopping och värdeformering. Studiens resultat har därefter analyserats i förhållande till det teoretiska ramverket. De viktigaste resultaten från studien är att konsumenternas förväntningar är centrala vid värdeformering. När dessa förväntningar uppfylls upplever konsumenterna onlineshoppingen som värdesamskapande, men när förväntningarna istället inte uppfylls blir det värdesamförstörande. Studiens resultat går i linje med tidigare forskning kring att en kongruens gällande vilka mål, regler och kunskaper som är relevanta vid en specifik interaktion medför värdesamskapande och att en inkongruens istället resulterar i värdesamförstörande. En motsägelse mot tidigare forskning är dock att inkongruenta uppfattningar kring praxis vid en viss interaktion inte alltid är negativa i och med att studiens resultat visar på att konsumenternas förväntningar ibland har överträffats. Därav har värdesamskapande skett trots inkongruenta uppfattningar. Studien visar även på att värde i utbytet är minst lika viktigt som värde i användandet på grund av att många konsumenter väljer onlineshopping till följd av billigare priser.

This paper explores value co-creation and value co-destruction with a focus on the social practices embedded in the online brand community “My Starbucks Idea (MSI).” The objectives of the research are accomplished through a detailed explanation of the study’s stages, starting with the Research design/Planning, and followed by the Community Entry (Entrée), Data collection, Limitations, and Ethical implications. Since the study is exploratory in character, the qualitative research strategy was used. As Bryman and Bell (2011) note, qualitative research gives particular attention to words rather than numbers in the gathering and interpretation of data. This study applied a modified ‘netnographic’ approach, a new qualitative method devised specifically to investigate consumer behaviour vis-à-vis cultures and communities present on the Internet (Kozinets 1998). This study identifies three elements of practice: stalking, gossip, and exhibitionism. It also supports the idea stated by Echeverri & Skålén (2011) that there is no positive without a negative in interactive value formation. Although those authors’ work was focused on the provider-customer interface, the idea proves applicable to the online brand community (OBC) used for illustration in this study. The present study also draws attention to a vital characteristic of practice often forgotten: ‘Language’ as an enabler of all other elements (Whittington 2006). The paper contributes to the knowledge in the practice theory domain, and thus consumer culture, especially relating to OBCs. When using OBCs as a marketing tool, considerable ingenuity must be employed by business managers to gain strategic information and feedback from online forum discussions. Such information can help in the company’s strategic decision making. By building relationships and gaining new customers through the process of collaboration, managers can become more like brand storytellers. Also, such communication can be channelled as a means to create greater awareness, both of the brand and the users’ experiences, along with aiding in the development of better services and products to meet customers’ needs. In the current study, consent was an ethical concern that limited the scope and path taken by the paper. The ten-week research period was another limiting factor in properly covering all of the contextualized consumption activities and gaining sufficient experience within the MSI community.

In recent years, AI has received increased attention in the field of marketing and is believed to grow even more in the future. It seems that the use of AI in marketing has a significant impact on consumer value creation. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how consumers experience the role of AI-marketing within the scope of the online customer journey, including how both positive and negative aspects of AI-based decision aids influence their value co-creation. Based on previous research, a conceptual model was created to determine whether consumers co-create or co-destroy value in the interactions with AI-based decision aids, as well as which types of values that are the outcomes. Three focus groups were used as a qualitative method to collect empirical data. Findings resulted in two main insights. Firstly, consumers experience the role of AI-based decision aids positively and can co-create values regarding economic and efficiency benefits, facilitation of information search, and more inspiring, personal and relevant experiences. Secondly, AI-based decision aids are also perceived negatively and contribute to co-destruction of value as well. Consumers experienced negative aspects regarding manipulation, limitations and loss of integrity and autonomy, as well as risks of overspending, being misled and distracted, and having irrelevant experiences. This thesis contributes with new insights into the consumer perspective of AI-marketing. Marketers can use these results to understand consumers’ value creation and avoid the negative aspects to achieve the best possible AI-marketing strategies.