Value Co-Creation and Co-Destruction in Online Education during the Covid19 Pandemic: Special reference to Sri Lankan State Sector Universities

Covid-19 pandemic hit all aspects of individuals’ lives in the whole globe including Sri Lanka and made mega changes in every person’s day-to-day life. People had to limit travelling, thus services which used to provide at physical interfaces with direct face-to-face interactions had to search new options in delivering their services. Education sector, including higher education in Sri Lanka had to move from on-campus classroom-based teaching to new modes of delivering academic programs via remote basis. This new normal is challenging for both the academics and the students due to lack of experience and unequal distribution of facilities which inhibit equal value creation in education. Since this phenomenon is new, scholarly attention has not been received adequately. Therefore, this study aims to explore the value co-creation and co-destruction in online education in state sector universities in Sri Lanka. The primary data were collected via semi-structured interviews from fifty university undergraduates representing different universities and geographic locations in Sri Lanka. They were encouraged to freely talk about their experience in online education. The study found nine key factors and re-classified them into four main themes as ‘resources availability, commitment, interaction, and personal and domestic conditions’ which bring value co-creation to some respondents while the same would destroy the value for some other students in gaining education. The findings would be helpful to the government, policy makers, academics, and students to enhance the collaborative value creation in distance education.