The Role of Customers in the Co-creation of Sustainable Value in Co-prosumption Services: Lessons Learned from Coworking Spaces

Doctoral thesis, 2026

Organisations increasingly face pressure to operate in more sustainable ways, prompting growing interest in the sharing economy as a means of reducing resource use through sharing. A specific subset within the domain of the sharing economy is co-prosumption services, characterised by customers being physically co-present within the service space. Although such services are often assumed to be inherently sustainable, limited research has examined how sustainable value is actively co-created within these contexts. Emerging perspectives suggest that sustainable value primarily arises through customer-to-customer interactions within the service space, emphasising the central role of customers. A limited understanding of the customers’ role may jeopardise the long-term viability of co-prosumption services. Accordingly, the purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding of customer behaviour in the co-creation of sustainable value within co-prosumption services.
The empirical context of the thesis is coworking spaces, an expanding form of shared workspace that relies heavily on interaction among members. The research is presented in five papers and adopts a mixed-methods design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Based on the empirical findings, a new multidimensional construct, sustainable coworking behaviour, is conceptualised and operationalised. Through engagement in the underlying behavioural dimensions of sustainable coworking behaviour, sustainable value is co-created within coworking spaces. The thesis also provides evidence of how selected motivational factors are associated with these behavioural dimensions, offering insights into how such behaviours can be supported.
By clarifying both what constitutes sustainable customer behaviour and how it can be promoted, this thesis contributes to service management research and the coworking literature by advancing understanding of co-prosumption services and customer-driven sustainability. Practically, it offers tools for practitioners to understand and encourage behaviours that enhance sustainable value creation in co-prosumption services.