Title: The impacts of trust, specific asset investment, knowledge sharing, and collaborative design on service innovation performance: a service-dominant logic perspective

Authors: Zhaoquan Jian; Osman Mohamed Ali

Addresses: School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China ' School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Abstract: According to service-dominant logic (S-DL) viewpoint, suppliers act as operant resources that firms may utilise to achieve better innovation performance. Although existing literature confirms that collaborative design of services with suppliers adds value to both firms and customers through reducing costs and shortening delivery time, the antecedents and the range of potential benefits derived from collaborative design of novel services deserves more investigation. Using a sample of 252 Chinese firms, this study empirically examines the interplays between trust, specific asset investment, knowledge sharing, collaborative design and service innovation performance. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) confirm the following: 1) trust positively and significantly impacts specific asset investment and knowledge sharing; 2) specific asset investment positively and significantly affects collaborative design; 3) knowledge sharing and specific asset investment have significant positive influences on service innovation performance; 4) collaborative design positively and significantly impacts service innovation performance; 5) collaborative design partially mediates the relationship between specific asset investment and service innovation performance. Accordingly, practitioners need to consider their suppliers as crucial facilitators of achieving profitable service innovation and develop suitable mechanisms to guarantee the effective input of these suppliers along the process of developing new services.

Keywords: trust; specific asset investment; knowledge sharing; collaborative design; service innovation performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2022.123507

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2022 Vol.28 No.1/2, pp.86 - 119

Accepted: 26 Jan 2022
Published online: 24 Jun 2022 *

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