Deconstructing value : The role of resource access in determining value processes and value outcomes at different stages of the consumption journey

Defining value has been an ongoing task for marketing scholars. Some researchers assert that the difficulty of gaining consensus on value is because value is multidimensional while the discipline attempts to view it holistically. Value has been deconstructed into a three spheres and occasions, namely the provider sphere, the joint sphere and the customer sphere. The current research sought to build on their model. Here it is posited that different value outcomes occur at different stages of the consumption process. The central question is therefore: is value better understood as a series of outcomes across the consumption journey than one holistic evaluation? Extant literature has increasingly sought to formalise how context shapes value. Value is created by integrating resources, and resources are not evenly distributed in any society. The current research has incorporated resource access and individual agency as the processes of value creation that shape value outcomes. The following research questions emerged: RQ1: How does resource access affect consumer agency and power? RQ2: How can resource networks be used to design a value proposition? RQ3: How does differential access to resources impact value during the acquisition process? RQ4: How can active resource destruction provide value outcomes? The empirical part of this research covered four papers, one of which was a conceptual paper. Two followed the interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative approach. Such an approach is strongly advocated in the literature on value. A fourth utilised the objective paradigm and followed a quantitative approach. Each approach was deemed best to suit the research question. The contribution to the body of knowledge is to establish how resources influence value creation processes and outcomes in three separate stages of the consumption lifecycle: value proposition development, value-in-acquisition and value-in-disposal. An additional sphere, termed the consumer sphere, was added to Grönroos and Voima’s existing three spheres (producer, joint and customer). The document is organised as an overall introduction to the research narrative of four related published papers. The document opens with a chapter providing an overview, followed by a chapter on the literature review, a methods chapter and a chapter of findings. The four papers follow under Chapter 5 at the end. Three of these papers have been published; one is being revised to be resubmitted