Value Proposition for Digital Technology Innovations of uncertain Market potential

In this paper we explore the notion of value proposition in relation to the features of digital technology innovations of uncertain market potential. Drawing on an empirical study of ‘serious games’ development we focus on the interplay between the design features as they are being incorporated into the serious game and how these can be addressed through an emergent articulation of the value proposition that sheds light on the establishment of a business model. We draw on ‘pragmatics of justification’ literature to develop an account of how the values, with not only economic/finance but also non-monetary notion, manifested in digital technologies, are justified in order to arrive at a value proposition. We argue that through mutual adjustment and reconciliation of each value element with the emerging value proposition, clarity and stability are brought to its constitution which are vital in the drawing-up of a business model in situations of high uncertainty. The research contributions we make are (a) theorizing how a value proposition is constituted, (b) introducing a new analytical approach to the study of value proposition drawing from the pragmatics of justification in the context of digital technology innovations’ development with social, economic and technical notions.