Value co-creation between firms and customers: The role of big data-based cooperative assets

•Big data interconnects firms and customers in promoting value co-creation.•Big data can be transformed from resources to valuable cooperative assets.•We describes the transformation process of big data-based cooperative assets.•The transformation requires heterogeneous resource bases and cooperative capabilities.

To better understand how big data interconnects firms and customers in promoting value co-creation, we propose a theoretical framework of big data-based cooperative assets based on evidence of multiple case studies. We identify four types of big data resources and four types of associated digital platforms, and we explore how firms develop the cooperative assets by transforming big data resources via the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic. This study offers a new theoretical perspective on value co-creation and an alternative competitive strategy in the era of big data for firms.