Designing for emergent use recombinations: a conceptual framework for value capture from connectable products

Connectable products, equipped with digital connectivity that allows them to interact with other products, are central to digital innovation. Enabled by the generativity of digital technology, users increasingly engage in emergent use recombinations, generating value beyond firms’ original intentions. This value may not feed back to originating firms through network effects but be appropriated by third parties or remain within local user contexts. Firms relying solely on network effects risk missing new value capture opportunities. We address this challenge by developing a conceptual framework for value capture from connectable products, with particular attention to this aspect. In this broad-theorizing review, we synthesize dispersed insights on value creation and capture in the connectable product literature through the lens of value-path position. Our framework distinguishes three relative positions (touchpoint, bridge, and source) that a connectable product can occupy on a value path, and delineates nine mechanisms through which new value is realized by users, captured by firms, and reinforced by products. This study advances our understanding of capturing value from emergent use recombination, offering firms guidance to proactively recognize, design for, and capture value from emergent use recombinations, while illuminating new directions for research on digital products’ generative potential.