Sustainable retail value creation through co-creation: a South African grocery retailer perspective

Abstract

Sustainability within the South African grocery retail sector has become a strategic priority, existing practices remain largely compliance-driven and fragmented. Despite increasing commitments to environmental and social goals, limited understanding exists of how sustainability is collaboratively created and institutionalised across retailers, suppliers, and consumers. This study addresses that gap by examining how sustainable value co-creation unfolds within the grocery retail ecosystem and how these interactions evolve toward a shared sustainability logic. Guided by Service-Dominant Logic, Institutional Theory, and Ecosystem Thinking, the research adopts an interpretivist qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews across stakeholder groups. Thematic and interpretive analysis reveal that sustainable value co-creation progresses through trust, transparency, and legitimacy-building processes that transform compliance into collective practice. Institutional pluralism, short-term cost focus, and limited consumer inclusion remain barriers, while shared learning and relational commitment act as enablers. The study contributes theoretically by integrating service and institutional perspectives to explain how sustainability becomes embedded through co-creation. Practically, it provides guidance for embedding co-creation within governance systems, aligning sustainability with affordability and inclusion, and strengthening collaboration across value chain actors to advance systemic sustainability in emerging markets.