Conceptualizing Services and Service Innovation: A Practice Theory Study of the Swedish Music Market

Abstract

In today’s complex and interconnected marketplace, the study of services and service innovation among multiple actors is an underdeveloped, but a theoretically and managerially relevant research area for enabling value cocreation. Building on general practice theory, the scarce prior service research that has drawn on practice theory, and an empirical study of the Swedish music market, this paper outlines a framework that conceptualizes services and service innovation among multiple actors by focusing on value cocreation practices (VCPs). The framework contributes to service research by conceptualizing services as bundles of VCPs, providing a theoretical foundation for the research that studies services as activities. It also contributes to service research by conceptualizing service innovation as the creation of VCPs. The paper shows how actors’ concrete activities, in combination with the valancing of VCPs existing in the market, induce service innovation. A future agenda for research on services and service innovation is also proposed. In addition to these theoretical contributions, the paper offers practical insights into how managers, with the help of the framework, may broaden their focus to include the shared VCPs of the markets to secure a competitive advantage.