Value co-creation: capturing the causal complexity of organizational capabilities

Purpose Service firms have the crucial responsibility of enabling value co-creation for their own and their customers' benefit. Therefore, it is imperative to gain a deeper understanding of how the organizational capabilities instilled in service interactions relate to the co-created value outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in configurational theory, organizational capabilities and value co-creation literature, this study aims to explain the complex relationships between interactional capabilities – a specific type of organizational capability that supports service interactions and contributes to a higher-level value co-creation capability – and key relational co-created value outcomes in two high-interaction service contexts. Relying on the service-dominant orientation model (SDO), the authors combine partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), finite mixture partial least squares (FIMIX-PLS) analysis and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Findings The PLS-SEM results establish the higher-level value co-creation capability construct and its positive relationship with the value outcomes. The FIMIX-PLS results indicate unobserved heterogeneity in the structural model, suggesting equifinality. The fsQCA results reveal how interactional capabilities, at a lower level, assemble in various configurations, resulting in both value co-creation and value no-creation. Originality/value Offering substantial theoretical and empirical reasoning with practical implications for service management, this study demonstrates how conjunction, equifinality and causal asymmetry characterize the relationships between interactional capabilities and value outcomes. In doing so, the paper expands knowledge about the value co-creation process in relation to value realization. The results also contribute to a more detailed understanding of the concept of value no-creation, as the absence of value realization.