Extended means-end value framework-a model to measure co-created value

Abstract

The contemporary view in marketing literature is that value is uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary (Vargo and Lusch 2008:7). Support for this phenomenological view of value comes from the means-end theory (Woodruff and Flint 2006; Vargo and Lusch 2004). The view that customers define and co-create value for themselves has important ramifications to the way value is assessed. Unfortunately the mean-end framework in its current form is limiting because it considers value an exogenous variable with value assessment being based on product attributes only. The purpose of this paper is to propose a means-end value framework that incorporates the implications of value co-creation. The paper concludes with implications to both theory and practice.