Purpose

This paper aims to identify and analyze factors that determine firms’ commitment to co-create new services with business customers.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study based on a scenario method, involving an online survey of French service companies, reveals the determinants of commitment to service co-creation.

Findings

Customer benefits and organizational sacrifices, as well as firm-related factors (specialization, partners’ involvement and innovativeness) correlate with firms’ commitment to co-create new services. The proposed, empirically grounded model details factors that determine firms’ commitment to co-create new services with business customers, including innovative culture as a key determinant.

Practical implications

The identified factors that affect firms’ commitment to co-create services can guide managers’ efforts to improve customer relationships and thus their service innovation processes.

Originality/value

This study identifies and analyzes characteristics of committed firms, as well as the benefits and sacrifices they face in co-creating new services, in a novel way. Thus, it helps define the fit between a service offering and business customers’ participation in new service development contexts.