Co-creation and user value in the smart city digital sharing economy: perspectives of expatriates in Dubai, UAE

This study sets out to investigate what the perception of expatriate residents of the smart city of Dubai are in relation to value from co-created services and the sharing economy and how value-in-use is perceived. The study addresses gaps in the current body of knowledge relating to value co-creation in the public sector, as much of the current research is focused on commercial value co-creation. Additionally, the current body of knowledge is focused on the global North, with little focus on the Gulf region and more specifically Dubai. This research also addresses gaps in the literature around expatriates, which is currently focused largely on the assimilation of expatriate talent to their new roles within a workplace environment, rather than looking at the impact their new wider environment is having on them.
This research was undertaken through a sequential mixed method approach, firstly conducting semi structured interviews using a thematic analysis to draw out key value creation themes. These themes and existing literature were used to create a conceptual model which was tested via an online questionnaire and analysed using structural equation modelling. Twenty-two UAE based expatriates took part in the interview stage, this group contains a mixture of ages, genders, country of origins and professions to provide a breadth of experiences. For this reason a purposeful sample was used. The quantitative stage adopted a convenience sample of 482 expatriates to provide a large group with which to examine the value creation phenomena.

The findings from the thematic analysis yielded four overarching themes in relation to value co- creation, these were information exchange, convenience, touchpoints, and experience. These factors coupled with the existing four dimensions of value. This offers new evidence in relation to smart cities and expatriates, while adding to confidence in the existing four dimensions concept. Sixteen hypotheses were drawn from the existing literature and qualitative study for testing with a larger group, all hypotheses were found to be both significant and positive. This provides evidence that information exchange, convenience, touchpoints, and experience have a significant and positive impact on value creation, mediated by the four dimensions of value creation, to create perceived service value in the smart city context for expatriate residents. This work has provided a new framework for examining public sector value co-creation in relation to expatriates, enabling scholars to examine this phenomenon within other public service environments and with expatriates and non-expatriate groups. Additionally, this work aids city managers in both the construction and ongoing development of smart cities, ensuring that they implement activities related to information sharing, convenience, touchpoints and the experience, to improve ongoing co-created value and overall perceived service value.