Value Co-Creation and Satisfaction in B2B Context: A Triadic Study in the Furniture Industry

• Main Authors: Vicente Sales-Vivó, Irene Gil-Saura, Martina G. Gallarza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-12-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: value co-creation; social satisfaction; economic satisfaction; B2B, supply chain
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/152

Research on Value co-Creation (VcC) has been more extensive in B2C (business-to-consumer) than in B2B (business-to-business) and mainly for service contexts, under dyadic approaches (supplier–client). Moreover, research has paid little attention to the impacts of VcC on Satisfaction in its duality: Social and Economic Satisfaction. As a novelty, this study examines VcC in B2B industrial relationships in the triad of supplier–manufacturer–client. A model proposes VcC as an antecedent of manufacturer’s Economic Satisfaction, with the mediating role of Social Satisfaction. The model is empirically contrasted for a sample of 77 firms from an industrial panel—the Spanish Furniture Market Observatory. The triadic approach is depicted with bi-directional relationships of the manufacturer with its main supplier and main client). Results evidence that VcC and Economic Satisfaction are greater in the manufacturer–main client relationship. Moreover, the manufacturer’s Satisfaction relies on its social dimension, which has a key role to produce Economic Satisfaction. Results also show asymmetry in the supply chain, different from those with the main supplier. Implications for managers invite to achieve a long-term VcC chain with all business partners, the focus being on manufacturer’s social dimension, so the triad supplier–manufacturer–client could be better aligned.