Digitalization for Sustainable Consumption: Co-Creating and Co-Destroying Value Through Digital Initiatives in Retail

Background: Although food and commodity consumption is a leading contributor to individuals’ emissions, limited attention has been given to green information systems (IS) initiatives in this crucial context. Persisting behavioral patterns, along with diverse personal values underlying consumers’ consumption choices and perceptions of sustainability, further complicate efforts to align sustainability initiatives with consumers’ values and goals. This study takes a novel approach to investigating how digital solutions may be utilized to represent sustainability and its related challenges to consumers and how such efforts are perceived by individual users in the food and commodity sector. Method: Using a service-dominant logic lens, we explored the potential of digital services to co-create and co-destroy sustainability value. Our approach involved a qualitative case study incorporating in-depth interviews with case company representatives and a critical incident technique survey with customers. Using a thematic analysis, we dissect customers’ experiences of value co-creation and co-destruction regarding the value propositions of the case company’s digital sustainability initiatives. Results: Our findings showcase emergent linkages and misalignments between the retailer’s value propositions and consumers’ experiences. We propose a nuanced framework capturing value co-creation and co-destruction across four dimensions, ranging from digital services in physical stores to omnichannel and ubiquitous services. The findings showcase the subjective and context-dependent nature of consumers’ interpretations of value, underscoring the importance of tailoring digital interventions to individuals’ goals, needs, and contexts. Conclusion: Emphasizing the need to align digital services with consumers’ sustainability goals, we propose approaches for physical and online store augmentation to support this alignment and encourage sustainable choices. However, a fine line is acknowledged between promoting sustainable behaviors and encouraging excessive consumption with green IS. We contribute to an understanding of digital services’ potential impact on sustainable consumption and extend the knowledge of value co-creation and co-destruction in digital sustainability initiatives

Understanding the Value Co-creation Potential of Social Robots in Primary School Education

While social robotics have great value creation potential in education, their fit remains unclear, and usage limited. We utilize the lens of Service-dominant (S-D) logic in investigating how value co-creation (and co-destruction) may occur among actors in the educational use of social robots. Our thematic analysis of 10 qualitative interviews with primary school teachers underscores that social robotics herald value co-creation potential by complementing traditional classroom teaching, enabling student engagement and motivation, and supporting teachers in their work. In addition, we identify value co-destruction dimensions relating to teachers’ earlier experiences, attitudes and prejudices towards social robots which could lead to resistance to change and inequalities between teachers and students. This study extends previous understandings of educational social robot use and offers practical guidance to educators and authorities on the matter

Why open educational resources repositories fail : the contribution of quality approaches to the success of repositories

Over the last two decades, millions of Open Educational Resources (OER) have become freely available for teachers and learners online. These resources are usually accessible through Learning Object Repositories (LORs), which are databases with a user interface. LORs are rarely used to their full potential and often considered as ‘failures’. Previous studies have shown that quality has a critical role in the success of information systems such as LORs. However there are no common guidelines for quality assurance approaches for LORs, nor are there studies into the contribution made by different LOR quality assurance approaches to the success of a repository. Measuring quality and success have proven to be a challenge in the research community due to the subjective and dynamic nature of such concepts. To meet this challenge, this thesis studied the perceptions of LOR users and developers with multiple methodological perspectives. The contribution of this thesis to academic discourse comes from its deepening of the understanding of LOR users’ and developers’ perceptions on the quality and success of repositories. Frameworks for LOR quality assurance approaches and LOR success metrics were developed in order to identify and design approaches that would augment LOR success, as a theoretical contribution. The findings of these studies show that expert reviews combined with user-generated quality approaches (e.g. recommendation systems, peer reviews, commenting, tagging etc.) contribute towards LOR success. The practical contribution of this thesis is a set of recommendations towards the design of LOR quality approaches. These recommendations have already been used as guidelines for creating quality assurance approaches for four major European LORs

Trusted educational networks for the internationalization of open educational resources

Global educational programs have become increasingly important in Higher Education and the training sector. One promising means of global collaboration is the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs). However, this opportunity has been slow to catch on, even though millions of learning objects are freely available around the world. This paper discusses key barriers to the use of OERs, and gives recommendations for better use of materials in international collaborations. A special focus is on the development of Trusted Educational Networks, and their use within recommendation mechanisms to enhance sharing in communities of trusted colleagues.peerReviewe

Why Open Educational Resources Repositories fail - Review of Quality Assurance Approaches

Regardless of the amount of open educational resources (OER) available, many learning object repositories LORs fail to attract active users and sustainable funding solutions. Previous studies indicate that quality of OER plays a significant role in the success of the repositories; however, there is a lack of systematic deeper understanding of this connection. In this qualitative study we interviewed 35 managers/developers of 27 national, thematic and federated LORs in regards of the LORs’ quality approaches and success. The key findings of this study show that comprehensive quality approach leads to success of the repository in most cases, the key instruments for quality assurance being expert and peer reviews. Contribution of this research is the review of LOR quality approaches. This study helps LOR developers to design sustainable quality assurance approaches.peerReviewe

Open educational resources repositories literature review Towards a comprehensive quality approaches framework

Today, Open Educational Resources (OER) are commonly stored, used, adapted, remixed and shared within Learning object repositories (LORs) which have recently started expanding their design to support collaborative teaching and learning. As numbers of OER available freely keep on growing, many LORs struggle to find sustainable business models and get the users’ attention. Previous studies have shown that Quality assurance of the LORs is a significant factor when predicting the success of the repository. Within the study, we analysed technology enhanced learning literature systematically regarding LORs’ quality approaches and specific collaborative instruments. This paper’s theoretical contribution is a comprehensive framework of LOR quality approaches (LORQAF) that demonstrates the wide spectrum of possible approaches taken and classifies them. The purpose of this study is to assist LOR developers in designing sustainable quality assurance approaches utilizing full the potential of collaborative quality assurance tools.peerReviewe

Harnessing Digital Services for Co-creating Sustainability Value in the Retail Servicescape

While the importance of sustainable consumption is well acknowledged and consumers increasingly demand sustainable alternatives, the consumption of environmentally strenuous products continues to grow. Technological solutions have been discussed for addressing the misalignment between consumers’ attitudes and behavior. This study is the first to use the service-dominant logic lens to investigate how digital services may be harnessed to drive the co-creation of sustainability value in the retail industry. We conduct 10 semi-structured interviews with a Finnish retail company and its customers and reflect on the customers’ experiences with respect to the company’s value propositions in the servicescape. Our findings indicate that understanding and harnessing consumers’ personal sustainability goals may be the key to designing digital services that help mitigate the impacts of consumption through value co-creation (VCC). We propose a preliminary framework for sustainability VCC and value co-destruction (VCD) in the retail industry and discuss its implications.peerReviewe

Questionnaire of all LEA School Lab -participants

Questionnaire from all LEA School Lab participants. How the school labs were carried out, et

Schools Went Online Over One Weekend : Opportunities and Challenges for Online Education Related to the COVID-19 Crisis

This study aims to further the understanding of the opportunities and challenges for online education from the perspective of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. The situation was unique in many ways, as the migration from traditional to online education was very rapid and forced by situational circumstances. However, it also had the potential to foster organizational change in the use of online education in a way that has never been seen before. A literature review was used to explore the opportunities and challenges for online education, and the results are discussed in connection with the COVID-19 crisis. The study identified nine opportunities and nine challenges for online education that apply to online education in general and that can be considered when creating strategies for dealing with a crisis situation similar to COVID-19.peerReviewe