Data are in the Eye of the Beholder: Co-creating the Value of Personal Data

The value of personal data has traditionally beenunderstood in economic terms, but recent scholarshipcasts the value of data as multi-faceted, dynamic,emergent and co-created by stakeholders. Thedynamics of the co-creation of value with personaldata lacks empirical study. We conduct a case study ofthe development of a personalised e-book and finddifferent perceptions of the value of personal data existfrom the firm, intermediary and customer perspective:means to an end, medium of exchange and net benefit.The different data perspectives highlight ontologicaldifferences in the perception of what data are. Thiscreates epistemological tension and differentexpectations of the data characteristics embedded inthe process of value co-creation. The findingscontribute to the growing data-in-practice literature,showing how different epistemological stances cancreate opposing expectations of what data should be,leading to ontological, policy and managerial tensions