The rise of P2P ecosystem: a service logics amplifier for value co-creation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine peer production (P2P) conceived as an ecosystem for value co-creation. First, this paper provides information on the specific P2P method for value co-creation, which is based on distributed technologies, cognitive slack and search for quality, to provide outputs that are open to continuous improvement. Second, aiming to fill the extant literature gap, this paper discusses the efficient dimension of P2P, providing a framework for the net benefit analysis of the economies and diseconomies that affect the value co-creation processes. Design/methodology/approach – The paper identifies three main literature clusters that are focused on P2P, namely, economical, sociological and organizational clusters, and integrates them with the economics of organizational perspective to elicit information on the efficient dimension of P2P. This efficient dimension is expressed by a net benefit analysis of the economies and diseconomies that affect the P2P value co-creation processes. Findings – The P2P ecosystem is characterized by the intensive interaction among cognitive slack and distributed technologies. This complex interaction presents interesting implications in terms of efficiency that, until now, have not been analyzed in the literature. Aiming to fill the extant literature gap, this paper provides a consistent analytical framework that simultaneously takes into account the economies of knowledge integration and potential diseconomies, that is, the costs of coordination and loss of control that arise from the adoption and diffusion of distributed technologies. Originality/value – This paper provides an original explanation of P2P as an emergent ecosystem that serves as a service logics amplifier of value co-creation. In this regard, analysis of the key features of P2P not only sheds new light on P2P, but also allows for the reflection on the ecosystem’s framework, which promotes a virtuous interaction between the conceptual speculation and understanding of reality. Moreover, the proposed framework for the net benefit analysis of the P2P value co-creation model draws the attention of managers and decision makers as they consider the following issue: value co-creation jointly considers not only its benefits, but also its associated costs.