Designing service interfaces in co-creation situations

To achieve competitive advantage, firms increasingly opt for extended levels of customer involvement in service processes. Firms involve customers not only in service delivery processes through self-service and co-production, but also in new service development processes through co-creation. This research investigates the conditions under which co-creation benefits customers, firms, and service employees, thereby drawing from lessons learned in research on self-service and co-production. A comprehensive review revealed that successful self-service and co-production require methods to manage both customers and service interfaces (i.e., service employees and technologies that mediate interactions and relationships between a firm and its customers). Therefore, this research aims to provide more insight into methods to manage customers acting as co-creators and the implications for the design of service interfaces in co-creation situations. By comparing methods to manage customers and service interfaces in self-service/co-production versus co-creation situations, this research provides a unifying framework for both researchers and managers.