New Generations of Students from the Perspective of Value Co-Creation at University

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, new paradigms emerged regarding the value creation in management and marketing in organizations. They causes also redefining the role of universities as a service organization and participants in the process of higher education (including especially students, lecturers, management). In this context, the current and important research problem appears to be the impact of new generations of students, exhibiting different attitudes and purchasing behaviors from on the image of a modern university. A particular challenge for the higher education organization is therefore the problem not only of creating and delivering the expected value as part of the education service, but the issue of shaping positive educational experiences with the active participation of actors in the entire education cycle.

The aim of the article is to identify the attitudes and behavior of the young generation of students at Polish universities and to diagnose their potential in the process of co-creating the value of an educational service. By adopting the paradigm of co-creating a service based on variables such as co-production, relationships and experience, we can determine the possibilities of formulating the strategy and image of Polish universities. In particular we focus on chances of implementing the co-creating concept of an educational service at a higher level from a student's perspective. The article reviews secondary research based on foreign and polish literature and — on this basis — indicates different behavioral students styles and their readiness to participate in co-creating the educational service at the university. The diagnosis and final conclusions refer to the results of studies carried out in 2017 at selected polish economic universities, in the field of management, and published by Polish researchers in reputable scientific journals and books.