Determining service value: Exploring the link between value creation and service evaluation

Abstract

Starting from the evolution of the service-dominant logic and critiques emerging from this, the purpose of this paper is to explore the link between value creation and service evaluation in order to understand what can be evaluated in a service, when and from which perspective, to ascertain its value. Even though in theory of service logic there is a quite clear understanding of service value creation dynamics, a reflection is missing on how to measure that value. The authors thus take on the concept of service evaluation as a further development of service logic, introducing a possible way to approach it. Bridging service logic studies and evaluation studies in the field of social sciences, this paper identifies temporal aspects of service evaluation, and possible evaluation objects and objectives that are meaningful for the service provider in value-facilitation activities and for the service user in value-creation activities. A framework is developed and some considerations are done upon shifting the reflection on value creation from theory to an evaluation practice.