Anticipatory value-in-use in early-stage digital health service transformations: How consumers assess value propositions before and after abrupt, exogenous shocks

Digital service transformations affect how consumers experience value-in-use. Yet, the process consumers use to evaluate value propositions for emergent, early-stage service transformations remains unclear. This is especially true for digital service transformations brought on by exogenous shocks requiring a near-immediate response. The abrupt lockdown of face-to-face services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic forced many organizations to launch remote offerings with little prior usage. In a telemedicine context, we develop an Anticipatory Value-in-Use Framework, investigating how consumers’ value-in-use process for a digital service transformation unfolds across three stages: value-in-use prerequisites, anticipatory value co-creation, and anticipatory value-in-use. Using SmartPLS we analyze 669 responses collected pre- and post-COVID-19 lockdown. Our results demonstrate the framework offers a consistent conceptualization of how consumers formulate anticipatory value-in-use when actual experience with the service transformation is lacking. However, consumers may weigh factors differently following exogenous shock-imposed transformations, requiring marketers to carefully articulate a transformation’s value propositions.