Customer-to-customer co-creation practices in tourism: Lessons from Customer-Dominant logic

Abstract

This study aims to explore specific customer-to-customer (C2C) co-creation practices and related value outcomes in tourism. The importance of C2C co-creation is first discussed in the context of the ServiceDominant logic, then a new approach to the study of tourists' social practices and related value-outcomes is proposed, drawing on the recently emerged Customer-Dominant logic in marketing. A pragmatic philosophy is adopted to best address the research questions in a purposively selected sample of five UKbased festivals. Qualitative interview- and observation-based methods are adopted to identify 18 C2C cocreation practices, placing these on a continuum of autotelicinstrumental and private-public practices. Four value-outcome categories are discussed: affective, social, functional and network value. The conclusions highlight the importance of value formed when tourists cocreate with each other in tourism settings and the authors identify specific opportunities for facilitating this process. Possible applications for future research are discussed, highlighting the merits of pragmatism.