Abstract
This bibliometric study analyzes 236 articles from Web of Science (2008-2024) to map the intellectual structure of real-time user participation in service encounters (RUP-SE). The field has transitioned from exploration (2008-2013) to maturity, with post-2020 publications averaging 29.5 annually. Three core research clusters emerge: real-time co-creation and participation, digitally-driven service innovation, and value creation-destruction dynamics. Theoretically grounded in service-dominant logic and value co-creation frameworks, the field addresses how technological advancement and COVID-19 have accelerated the shift from co-design to co-execution. However, platform architectures introduce governance logics that render co-execution inherently asymmetrical, and value co-destruction in algorithmic contexts may be structurally unequal among service actors. Key gaps include the ethical governance of algorithmic mediation, limited cross-cultural analyses, and scarce longitudinal studies. Future research should integrate critical platform perspectives with service theory to address equity and accountability in real-time service systems.
Keywords
real-time user participation, service encounters, value co-creation, bibliometric analysis
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2113
Citation
Cao, Y., and Zhao, Y. (2026) From Co-Design to Co-Execution: A Knowledge Map of Real-Time User Participation in Service Settings (2008-2024), in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2113
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
From Co-Design to Co-Execution: A Knowledge Map of Real-Time User Participation in Service Settings (2008-2024)
This bibliometric study analyzes 236 articles from Web of Science (2008-2024) to map the intellectual structure of real-time user participation in service encounters (RUP-SE). The field has transitioned from exploration (2008-2013) to maturity, with post-2020 publications averaging 29.5 annually. Three core research clusters emerge: real-time co-creation and participation, digitally-driven service innovation, and value creation-destruction dynamics. Theoretically grounded in service-dominant logic and value co-creation frameworks, the field addresses how technological advancement and COVID-19 have accelerated the shift from co-design to co-execution. However, platform architectures introduce governance logics that render co-execution inherently asymmetrical, and value co-destruction in algorithmic contexts may be structurally unequal among service actors. Key gaps include the ethical governance of algorithmic mediation, limited cross-cultural analyses, and scarce longitudinal studies. Future research should integrate critical platform perspectives with service theory to address equity and accountability in real-time service systems.