Role of the intermediary in the value process: Value creation in a sports service context

• The study examines the role of intermediaries in the value process. • This empirical study uses an ethnographic approach in the context of golf services. • We utilize observations and interviews with intermediaries, customers, and providers. • We delineate six intermediary roles and refine the understanding of the value process. • The study shows how value expectations span across the value process. This study examines the role of intermediaries in the value process, emphasizing their significance in assisting providers before, during, and after interactions with customers. Intermediaries engage with customers during value creation and influence customers’ value-in-use. However, existing literature has not adequately explored their role in the value process. To address this deficiency, this empirical study uses an ethnographic approach within the context of golf services, utilizing observations and interviews with intermediaries, customers, and providers to delineate six distinct intermediary roles. The findings reveal that the intermediary acts as a supporter of value facilitation and a partner in value learning on the provider’s side, a catalyst of value co-creation or conciliator of value co-creation in direct interactions between the provider and the customer, and an amplifier of value creation and a builder of value anticipation on the customer’s side. Additionally, we refine the understanding of the value process, demonstrating how value expectations span the entire value process and how intermediaries can actively shape these expectations.