Given the importance of services in most economies (both developed and developing), as well as the significance of CCSP in service firms, an a-priori expectation was adopted that research on customer cooperation in the context of services should have grown over the last 14 years since the limited content analysis by Bendapudi and Leone (2003) on customer co-production. The underlying rationale for this expectation is that both services in general and CCSP in particular has received a great deal of attention from researchers since the beginning of this century (see Brodie et al 2011; Gronroos 2011; Payne et al. 2008; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004; Bendapudi and Leone 2003).
The a-priori expectation of a growing body of research is supported by the information presented in Figure 2.1. This figure shows that the number of studies on CCSP has been increasing since 2000, from one paper in 2000 reaching to as high as 25 studies in 2012. Figure 2.1 also indicates that topics addressing CCSP issues have received more attention since 2005 with five studies published in that year. However, a reduction in the number of published studies through 2006, 2007, and 2013. In the first four years of the review period 2000 to 2004, a limited number of studies were published. Moreover, Figure 2.1 indicates that the number of published studies doubled between 2008 and 2012. This provides strong support for the increasing importance of CCSP, because researchers have given greater attention to this area. Further, the increase in the numbers of published studies can be interpreted as the evidence that knowledge in the area of CCSP is progressing. However, the number of published studies on CCSP during 2013 declined in comparison to previous years. As shown in Figure 2.1, the same reduction in the number of published studies on CCSP occurred during the period of 2006-2007. However, the number of studies published on CCSP after 2007 increased. It is possible that after 2013 researchers developed new ideas and new streams of research on CCSP.
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The importance of CCSP may also be highlighted when an increasing number of studies are published in highly rated, credible (top tier) journals. Table 2.1 presents information that addresses the studies outlets for work published focusing on CCSP. It shows that studies have been published in 38 different peer reviewed/refereed journals. Many of these are high level, very credible journals, ranked as A* or A1 (e.g., Journal of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management and the like). Table 2.1 shows that 13.7% of studies have been published in the Journal of Service Research, 9.1% in the Journal of Marketing and Industrial Marketing Management, 8.04% in the Journal of Business Research, 6.8% the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, and 4.5% in the Journal of Service Management. The information presented in Table 2.1 also shows that around half of the studies have been published in the above-noted journals (50%). Interestingly, more than two thirds of the identified journals have published only a single study on CCSP themes.
Analysing the literature (and outlets) on CCSP shows that CCSP has interdisciplinary characteristics. This view is further supported by the fact that articles appear in a variety of journals that are context specific (e.g., psychology), but covers different disciplines (e.g., marketing, management). For instance, Psychological Review publishes studies in the psychology context, but covers different disciplines in psychology, such as consumer psychology. The other example is Management Decision, a journal that publishes studies within the management disciplines, but covers different areas in management such as services marketing. The last example here is Decision Sciences, a journal that publishes studies on decision-making, but covers different areas such as logistics, information system, and sales and marketing. In the period covering this content analysis, the journals indicated in Table 2.1 published
1 According to the Australian Business Deans Council ranking.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Figure 2.1 Number of articles
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studies on service research and service management, services marketing, service innovation and innovation management, psychology, marketing, strategy and management, business strategy and other areas.
Table 2.1
The publication and number of studies published in each journal during the research period 2000-2013
Journals No. of
Articles
Journals No. of
Articles Journal of Service Research 12 Decision Sciences 1 Journal of Marketing 8 Journal of Interactive Marketing 1 Industrial Marketing Management 8 Journal of Management 1 Journal of Business Research 7 Journal of Marketing
Management 1
Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science 6 Journal of Product & Brand Management 1 Journal of Service Management 4 Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services. 1
Journal of Strategic Marketing 3 Journal of retailing, 1 European Management Journal 2 Journal of Services Marketing 1 Journal of Consumer Behaviour 2 Journal of Strategic management 1 Management Decision 2 European Journal of Business
and Management 1
Marketing theory 2 Management Research Review 1 California Management Review 2 Managing Service Quality, 1 The Journal of Marketing Theory
and Practice 2 Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 1 Journal of Business-to-business
Marketing 2 Production and operations management 1 British Journal of Management 1 R&D Management 1 European Journal of Innovation
Management 1 Schmalenbach Business Review 1
Information and Software
Technology 1 Services Marketing Quarterly 1
International Journal of Logistics
Management 1 The Service Industries Journal 1 International Journal of Project
Management 1 International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences 1 Tourism management 1 International Journal of Hospitality
Management 1
TOTA 87
2.4.2. Categorisation of research based on market, industry, and topics on CCSP