Actor roles emergence through actor engagement: an SD logic perspective

• Published in: The Journal of business & industrial marketing Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 794 - 807
• Main Authors: Wajid, Anees, Paracha, Osman Sadiq, Raziq, Muhammad Mustafa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Santa Barbara Emerald Publishing Limited 08-05-2024; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Behavior; Business ecosystems; Corporate culture; Entrepreneurship; Actor role readiness; Actor engagement; Generic actor roles; SD logic; Emergence
• ISSN: 0885-8624; 2052-1189; 0885-8624
• DOI: 10.1108/JBIM-09-2022-0427

Purpose
Emergence is a key concept in service-dominant (SD) logic; however, the literature is neonatal on the underlying mechanisms that lead to emergence within service ecosystems. This study aims to address the call by Vargo et al. (2022) for understanding the role of actor engagement in emergence of novel outcomes, by identifying a process of how various actor roles in entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) emerge as resource through the actor engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a longitudinal design, this study conduct interviews from 20 respondents over eight months in three phases (group interviews, post-training, post-funding). This study analyzes the respondents’ engagement in an entrepreneurial service context. This study uses qualitative inductive approach and thematic analysis.
Findings
Results show that actor roles emerge as role expectations from essential provider and beneficiary position in a service ecosystem through actor role readiness, manifested as engagement properties in the actor engagement process. This study identifies five actor roles and their corresponding role readiness dimensions that emerge. Based on these propositions through which the authors position generic actor roles emergence within the actor engagement process in a service ecosystem.
Originality/value
This paper advances the understanding of micro-level process in emergence literature in SD logic by providing a conceptual understanding of emergence of actor roles as a resource through actor engagement. By grounding the study in EE, this study provides empirical evidence to the underlying mechanisms at the micro level of resource emergence process in a service ecosystem.