It Takes Two to Co-Create: Digital Twin Mechanism for Value Co-Creation

The convergence of physical assets and dynamic digital representations is reshaping how value is created in service ecosystems. Digital twins (DTs) are at the center of this development, yet a comprehensive understanding of how they influence the co-creation of value remains lacking. A systematic literature review of 53 peer-reviewed articles on DTs in service ecosystems was conducted. Drawing on service-dominant logic (SDL) as an analytical lens and expanding this perspective with Giddens' theory of structuration, the analysis identifies five mechanisms: real-time mirroring and synchronization, simulative anticipation and scenario experimentation, feedback-driven adaptive learning and reconfiguration, interactive co-creation and participatory design, and cross-boundary resource orchestration. Building on these two theoretical perspectives, a conceptual framework is developed that positions DTs as socio-material mediators of structuration in service ecosystems. In doing so, the SDL discourse is expanded by illustrating how digital technologies condition and transform resource integration, while offering implications for DT-based service design.