Broadening the phygital experience: a scoping review of value creation for service actors
Rory Mulcahy, Retha Scheepers, Simon Oertel, Jenna Campton, Melissa Louise Innes, Kirsty Redgen, Renee BarnesPurpose
This study aims to review phygital research from 2014 to 2025 to map the field, reduce fragmentation and identify key gaps warranting future exploration. The review expands the view of phygital service research (PSR) to include both consumer and employee perspectives, using consumption value theory and the reality–virtuality continuum to code the literature and examine value outcomes and the blend of physical and digital elements.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines to select relevant research across multiple databases. Broad search terms, beyond “phygital”, such as “hybrid” and “physical-digital interaction” were used in a scoping review approach to capture interdisciplinary perspectives. Thematic analysis was applied to reduce fragmentation, categorise actor perspectives, synthesise value outcomes and classify phygital experiences on the reality–virtuality continuum.
Findings
The review identified that most phygital literature largely centres on service employee perspectives, particularly in hybrid work and organisational contexts, while consumer and employee perspectives are rarely examined together, revealing a gap in understanding value co-creation. The literature emphasises emotional and functional value, positive emotional value for consumers and aspects of emotional value destruction for employees, while social and epistemic values are underexplored. Most studies focus on augmented reality enhancing physical spaces, with limited attention to virtual-dominant experiences.
Originality/value
This review advances PSR by offering a multidisciplinary analysis of phygital experiences that integrates consumer and employee perspectives, highlighting the need for a multi-actor approach. It conceptualises value as a multidimensional continuum, incorporating both value creation and destruction, while addressing the overemphasis on emotional and functional value by calling for greater attention to social and epistemic dimensions. It also operationalises the reality–virtuality continuum to clarify phygital configurations, enabling more precise theorisation and identification of underexplored service interactions.