Understanding experiential user value through a case study of the public childcare service in South Korea

Background Despite the importance of user value as the ultimate goal of service innovation and business activities, user value has not yet been systematically and empirically studied in the context of the holistic service experience journey. This study aims to empirically investigate the user value of the public childcare service in South Korea from the value-in-experience perspective and propose an initial experiential value map as a tool to support value-oriented service design. Methods Beginning with a literature review of holistic service experiences and value dimensions, this study conducted a case study to explore users' holistic experiences of the childcare service and their perceived value from their service experiences. Results The analysis of the case study identified ten key experiential elements that triggered the user value of the childcare service during the three stages of users' service experience process. Also, it was found that five value dimensions were involved in the childcare service, while functional value and relational value among others were dominant across the whole service experience process. Conclusions Drawing on the view of value as the outcome of users' subjective assessment of their experience, this study provided an initial insight into the nature of the experiential user value of the public childcare service. This study's initial experiential user value map may complement existing service design methods by capturing subjective and interpretive user value in service experiences, thereby contributing to value-oriented service design.