Developing an Original Theory of Value Co-Creation in Fintech-Bank Ecosystems in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Nigeria

Value co-creation theory has evolved in the context of simple dyadic service relationships, and its extension to complex multi-actor digital ecosystems, such as fintech-bank partnerships in Nigerian financial services, requires original theoretical development that this study provides. This study develops an original Fintech-Bank Ecosystem Value Co-Creation Theory (FBEVCT) drawing on service-dominant logic, platform theory, and ecosystem orchestration frameworks to explain how value is co-created, distributed, and sustained across the multiple actors (banks, fintechs, customers, regulators, and technology providers) constituting Nigeria's emerging financial services ecosystem. Theory development combines systematic conceptual synthesis with an in-depth empirical investigation of Nigeria's fintech-bank ecosystem, including longitudinal tracking of 25 partnership arrangements between Nigerian banks and fintech companies from 2019 to 2023. Data collection involves 80 executive interviews with bank digital executives, fintech founders, and CBN officials, platform transaction data from three ecosystem operators (covering 12 million user transactions), and customer experience surveys of 600 platform users. The FBEVCT introduces three original theoretical constructs: Ecosystem Resource Integration (the multi-directional pooling and recombination of resources across ecosystem actors beyond dyadic exchange), Regulatory Value Shaping (the active role of regulatory actors in determining which value propositions are viable and which are prohibited), and Customer Agency Asymmetry (the differential agency of customers in value co-creation depending on digital literacy and financial sophistication). Structural equation modelling and qualitative comparative analysis validate the FBEVCT's empirical predictions. The study constitutes the first systematic application of value co-creation theory to the fintech-bank ecosystem context in Africa.

Keywords: value co-creation, fintech, bank ecosystem, service-dominant logic, Nigeria