Customer or Prosumer – Who am I? Role Acceptance in Emerging Service Business Models
(A2024-119591)

AUTHORS

Corinna Braun, University of Passau; Jan Schumann, University of Passau

ABSTRACT

Today’s service customers take an active role in value creation exemplified in the energy market through bidirectionally chargeable electric vehicles. Customers blend consumer and producer roles by storing, selling, or consuming energy, therefore turning into prosumers. Literature has explored motives to become a prosumer and to switch roles, yet how prosumers perceive this change is still underexplored. In our interviews, we found that a majority of participants are unwilling to accept their prosumer roles, predominantly acting as customers. Few embrace their role as prosumers, and a smaller group falls “in-between”, displaying characteristics of both sides. Our study therefore contributes to prosumer role literature, by highlighting that prosumers may not identify with their roles and neglect them, offering valuable insights for managers in discerning prosumer identities, understanding how firms should engage with them and refining their communication strategies.