Year: 2016
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Domesticated animals form an important part of modern life, fulfilling roles as household companions, working animals or food producing livestock. Regardless of the position they realise within contemporary society,their day to day care is now complex and involves a range of animal healthcare practitioners in addition to the veterinary \nprofessional, termed paraprofessionals. The discerning nature of the modern client in combination with the \ndeveloping roles of professionals within the sector has transformed market dynamics and highlighted the need for reflection on measures of service quality and its provision.\nThis paper presents a conceptualisation of value co-\ncreation within animal healthcare based on an analysis of sector stakeholders’ service experiences. Interviews with service providers and clients provide data for content analysis and highlight the dimensions of communication and integrated care as important components of service provision. Exploratory factor analysis of questionnaire data (n=271) following surveying of veterinarians\nand paraprofessionals,loaded onto seven latent factors, with strong dimensions of trust and communication identified. Disparity between veterinarian and client opinion was of interest and is worthy of further investigation,but results obtained support the application \nof value co-creation models to develop service quality within the UK animal healthcare sector.
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2613979061