The aesthetics of value co-creation in an additive manufacturing firm

Abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D-printing, allows for rapid prototyping and complex design and gives an insight into how customers may use recent technology to co-create value. Metal additive manufacturing reaching market maturity broadens the playing field for the ability to create personalized products. The idea of value co-creation places customers in the center. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how customers engage in collaborative processes where aesthetics and embodied experiences manifest with the development of new products. By empirically researching the phenomenon in the field of technology and understanding the roles of aesthetics, customer-centered approaches to innovation may become more fruitful. This research applies technology entrepreneurship studies with aesthetics, more specifically the embodied processes that occur during the value co-creation of complex technology. A 4-month micro-ethnography of an AM firm was conducted to explore the aesthetics of value co-creation. Expanding on the work of Elias et al. (2018) and Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012), value co-creation in a complex technology field was explored. The key insight in this thesis is that customers may come with valuable contributions during the commercialization of technology, not only when trying to make sense of the technology, but also insights into where the technology may be applied.