Role of Actor’s Internal Disposition in Value Co-Creation: A Case in Retail Industry

This paper aims to explore the role of an actor’s disposition for value co-creation. Specifically, itexplores the drivers which influence an employee’s disposition to prevent shoplifting (a voluntaryaction) in supermarkets. Within an interpretive paradigm, this research uses phenomenology as theresearch design. Data was collected using interviews from 26 shop-floor employees from twonational supermarket chains in New Zealand. The participants regularly shop at their workplace(i.e., supermarket) and in a way were regular customers of their respective stores. The findingssuggest characteristics of drivers which influence an employee’s internal disposition to initiatevalue co-creation in the form of shoplifting prevention such as the actor’s engagement quality,nurturing work environment, future growth opportunities, employee ownership, and employee’swillingness towards shoplifting prevention. First, the study contributes to the service marketingliterature by conceptualizing internal disposition. Second, it explores the role of employee’sdisposition in value co-creation. By doing so, it contributes towards a more balanced theoreticalfoundation for service-dominant (S-D) logic