Value co-creation by an AI-powered digital platform in the B2B services

Abstract

This thesis examines how value creation is shaped through value co-creation by an AI-powered digital platform within Business-to-Business (B2B) services. It integrates Service-Dominant (S-D) logic with the platform ecosystem perspective to analyse three case companies from Finland and Bangladesh. Using a qualitative multiple case study design and the Gioia methodology based on ten semi-structured interviews, the study explores how artificial intelligence (AI) restructures the value co-creation process. The findings identify six aggregate dimensions: socio-technical configuration, human-AI collaboration, actor-to-actor (A2A) interaction, business value creation, AI as a support actor, and associated risks and constraints. The results show that AI plays a role as a sociotechnical quasi-actor that mediates resource integration, orchestrates activities, and enhances knowledge institutionalisation within the digital platform ecosystem. Drawing on S-D logic, the study demonstrates that AI strengthens operant resources integration by transforming dispersed data into actionable knowledge, while the platform ecosystem perspective explains improved coordination and alignment among heterogeneous actors. Value co-creation emerges through a hybrid-AI configuration in which AI augments decision-making and efficiency, while human actors retain control through governance mechanisms. However, trust concerns, data privacy issues, and capability gaps limit the full realisation of AI-enabled value co-creation. The thesis contributes by conceptualising AI as a quasi-actor and offers managerial implications for designing and scaling AI-powered digital platforms in the B2B services.