Abstract
The value of personal data has traditionally been
understood in economic terms, but recent scholarship
casts the value of data as multi-faceted, dynamic,
emergent and co-created by stakeholders. The
dynamics of the co-creation of value with personal
data lacks empirical study. We conduct a case study of
the development of a personalised e-book and find
different perceptions of the value of personal data exist
from the firm, intermediary and customer perspective:
means to an end, medium of exchange and net benefit.
The different data perspectives highlight ontological
differences in the perception of what data are. This
creates epistemological tension and different
expectations of the data characteristics embedded in
the process of value co-creation. The findings
contribute to the growing data-in-practice literature,
showing how different epistemological stances can
create opposing expectations of what data should be,
leading to ontological, policy and managerial tensions.