Enablers and Mechanisms of Value Cocreation in Knowledge-Intensive Business Service Engagements: A Research Synthesis

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) such as management consulting, research and development, and IT outsourcing, have become a key component of most industrialized economies. As such, there has been a growing number of empirical studies investigating the way in which KIBS providers, clients, and partners collaboratively create value. These studies provide an important opportunity to improve our understanding of how value cocreation unfolds in the specific context of KIBS engagements. However, their results remain dispersed across the literature and can be difficult to compare. We present an integrated framework of value cocreation enablers and mechanisms developed through a research synthesis integrating the empirical results of 24 articles on this topic. The framework can serve as a basis to guide the design of KIBS engagements. The method of research synthesis is also shown to be a promising means of strengthening the collective knowledge base on service systems.

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