Dynamic roles of value creation
By acting as providers, experienced members engage in the ‘collective consumer creativity
practice’ (Kozinets et al., 2008). In other words, providers co-create value by conversing and arguing
on threads, especially in response to less experienced members who have made knee-jerk posts
or misunderstood other members’ posts. All providers act as beneficiaries when they participate in
discussion forums, or gain new knowledge and information from other experienced members.
Furthermore, only experienced beneficiaries can act as providers as well as beneficiaries. Therefore,
consumers may act as providers in as far as they are able to provide ‘services’, or as Gro¨nroos
(2008) puts it, ‘doing something for someone’.