Co-creation practices: Their role in shaping a health care ecosystem

Co-creation is described as a resource integration process involving actors that are linked within a service ecosystem. This process occurs when value propositions attract actors to share their resources during collaborative activities and interactions, termed co-creation practices. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: (1) to develop a typology of co-creation practices that shape a dynamic health care service ecosystem, identifying those practices that have positive effects, those that have negative effects, and those that can have either positive or negative effects on the service ecosystem; (2) to provide indicative measures of co-creation practices; and (3) to offer a compelling research agenda. Actors assess their resources and seek to address resource gaps, engaging in co-creation practices that offer access to valued resources. As such, we argue that co-creation practices play a central role in shaping the service ecosystem, influencing which resources are available, when they are employed, and how they are integrated. We develop a typology consisting of eight co-creation practices, illustrating these in the context of a health care ecosystem. We provide a set of indicative measures, identifying how co-creation practices can impact the well-being of the ecosystem, and develop a research agenda calling for further studies in this important area.