Digitally Engaged Services: A Multi-Level Perspective on Technology Readiness and Value Co-Creation Behaviour in Higher Education: An Abstract

Advances in digital technology and innovation have fundamentally changed the way Higher Education (HE) communities interact, consume and co-create value (Neier and Zayer 2015; Merle and Freberg 2016). In particular, how technology influences the dynamics between the actors (e.g. students and lecturers) involved in HE is of interest to both HE and service managers and researchers (Diaz-Mendez and Gummesson 2012). Taking a value co-creation lens, we develop a model, drawn from our own preliminary qualitative findings with students and staff, as well as the technology adoption literature (e.g. Davis 1989; Parasuraman and Colby 1985, 2015) in order to address the theoretical deficiency of how technology readiness influences value co-creation behaviour in a service setting. The model proposes that an individual’s Technology Readiness (TR) acts as an antecedent to Digital Technology Satisfaction which has a positive and facilitating influence on value co-creation behaviours. In addition, this study addresses concerns regarding ambiguities surrounding the conceptualisation of value co-creation and adopts a multidimensional hierarchical measurement of this construct. This paper presents the findings from a quantitative pilot study (98 participants), and the results show strong support for our hypotheses and theoretical model. Given that the emphasis in the literature has focused on actor value co-creation, it is vital to examine a dyadic interaction between two key HE actors, e.g. students and employees, and the influence that digital technologies can have on their value co-creation behaviour. Our research addresses these concerns by examining the relationship between technology readiness and value co-creation behaviour in a credence-based service setting. Following the pilot test at the student level, our research will take a cross-cultural perspective (Ireland, South Korea, the UK, the USA) and examine the proposed model at the student and lecturer level. In so doing, this multi-level dyadic perspective deepens our understanding of how a service environment can augment the service experience for both cohorts by integrating digital technology platforms and resources. By adopting the TR 2.0 scale (Parasuraman and Colby 2015) and the recent value co-creation behaviour scale (Yi and Gong 2015), this paper deepens our understanding of students and lecturers perceived likelihood to adopt emerging technologies and the influence this has on their value co-creation behaviour. Future research could apply the model to other service environments, in particular where digital technologies are enhancing the service offering and providing more opportunities for value co-creation to occur.