Decentralized Service: An Initiation of Blockchain Value Creation into Service Science

How value is created through service has recently undergone massive changes. Centralized service provision with clear distinctions between service offerers and beneficiaries is increasingly being substituted by value creation within decentralized networks of distributed actors integrating digital resources. One of the drivers of this transformation is blockchain technology. Applying the lens of service-dominant logic and discussing examples of blockchain-based decentralized finance, we shed light on how properties of decentralized technology stimulate value creation in service ecosystems. With this conceptual research, we postulate five propositions of decentralized value creation along the axiomatic foundations of the service-dominant logic. We provide first definitions for decentralized service as well as decentralized service ecosystems. Thereby, we contribute with an extension of the service-dominant logic to the context of decentralized ecosystems. To our knowledge, this research is among the first to add to the growing literature on blockchain value creation from a service science perspective.