The Role of New Technologies in Value Co-Creation Processes: Healthcare Management and the National Health System as a System of Services

Technologies may affect the emergence of value co-creation phenomenon within the national health system. The aim is to explore how the exchange of resources between actors connected through multi-level relationships, whose interactions are mediated by technology, can lead to the joint creation of new value and potential innovation. By analyzing the definition of value co-creation, the paper presents the National Health System as a complex service system and proposes a conceptual framework, then applied to the case study to identify: 1) the enabling factors for value co-creation; 2) the network mechanisms and the information interests of the various actors that lead to the continuous renewal of resources, to value co-creation and to innovation. Results allow the conceptualization of the enabling factors for co-creation management and guide managers to identify tools, resources, and technologies that promote value co-creation by improving understanding of the different types of activities performed by actors during the joint exchange of resources and the mechanisms that promote the active involvement of users and patients.