Title: Client-consultant interaction: the dynamics of and conflicts in value co-creation and co-destruction

Authors: Suvi Von Becker; Eeva Aromaa; Päivi Eriksson

Addresses: Business School, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland ' Business School, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland ' Business School, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

Abstract: The paper explores how value is co-created and co-destructed in the social interaction between consultants and clients. Prior research on management consultancy as service production has elaborated on the question of how value is co-created in the same context as this paper. However, how value is co-destructed has remained little studied. In this paper, a workshop facilitated by a consultant for a client is studied to conduct a micro-analysis of the dynamics and tensions of co-creation and co-destruction of value. In management consultant services, it is suggested that value and, more specifically, consultant-client relationships can be both co-created and co-destructed through the approach-avoidance motivation of the consultant and the client.

Keywords: management consulting; consulting practice; service production; consultant-client relationships; value co-creation; value co-destruction; approach-avoidance motivation; qualitative research; microanalysis; value creation; social interaction; management consultants.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2015.071103

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2015 Vol.21 No.1/2/3, pp.40 - 54

Published online: 12 Aug 2015 *

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