Service and ethical attributes of food delivery apps: Indonesian merchants’ perspective on value co-creation in the B2B sharing economy via web scraping

Purpose: This study aims to address the research gap concerning the ethical perspectives of food delivery apps (FDAs) from the restaurant (merchant) standpoint within the sharing economy. Building on the Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) framework and the service ecosystem perspective, this research goes beyond the traditional focus on service attributes. It develops a B2B-focused conceptual model that integrates both service and ethical attributes, offering a holistic view of how value co-creation occurs among various actors on FDA platforms. Design/methodology/approach: This study used web scraping to collect data, analyzing 5,010 reviews from Grab Merchants and 5,154 reviews from the GoBiz Merchant App on the Google Play Store. A deductive thematic analysis revealed a critical relationship between service quality and the ethical practices offered by FDAs within the overall ecosystem. Findings: The deductive thematic analysis revealed a crucial interplay between service and ethical attributes within the FDA ecosystem. This underscores the importance of continuous collaboration to foster value co-creation among multiple stakeholders, including aggregators, merchants, customers and drivers. Originality/value: The study contributes to the sharing economy literature by proposing a conceptual model that integrates service and ethical attributes, demonstrating their role in driving value co-creation within the framework of Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic).