ABSTRACT
This handbook seeks to further advance the emerging eld of knowledge service engineering (KSE) by providing a theoretical foundation to guide future research in this area. The development of KSE focuses on understanding the ecology of information technology and the dynamics of a “knowledge-based” economy, or society, in which the survival and success of an enterprise is based on the acquisition of knowledge (Adler 2001). This chapter contributes to the development of KSE by providing a theoretical framework that is centered on service as the basis of social and economic exchange and knowledge as a primary resource for value creation. We present alternative views for conceptualizing service, knowledge, and value creation and argue that a service-dominant (S-D) logic (Vargo and Lusch 2004, 2008) framework will provide KSE with a stronger and more robust theoretical foundation for exploring practical issues than the dominant, alternative orientation.
