Building on a holistic perspective of well-being that aspires to human thriving (White, 2010) this paper develops a WELLBECARE framework to understand family caregiver (FCG) well-being. It aims to provide policy makers and other actors within an ecology of care with a tool to analyse FCGs’ well-being processes and outcomes.

The key roles played by family caregivers (FCGs) are often hidden and under-appreciated. FCGs have situational expertise, embracing giver and receiver care insights. However, the sustained delivery of often-complex care ‘relies on the capacity of informal carers to function effectively in their role as providers,’ (Bettini et al., 2018, p. 2) including coping with demanding emotional complexities, and can come at a high cost for carers’ own health. While studies recognize the debilitating effects of caring and adverse consequences for those in receipt of care, the conversation remains within a medical discourse and continues to overlook the personal and social aspects of well-being. Differing care contexts and diversity of FCGs’ lived experiences demands further exploration to recognize caregivers’ needs and, by doing so, improve access to meaningful care systems (Lilly et al., 2012).

Service ecosystems are key to facilitating well-being for individuals and collectives to create uplifting change (Ostrom et al., 2015) and ‘investigat[ing] the well-being implications of service for consumers and for the broader society’ (Roy, 2017, p. 135) is central to Transformative Service Research (TSR). However, Rahman’s (2021) recent review highlights a concerning lack of TSR studies addressing social well-being, especially in health-related contexts. We address this deficit in relation to FCG well-being by developing the WELLBECARE framework, which builds on a development perspective of holistic (material, relational and social) well-being that accounts for both objective and subjective dimensions over time (White, 2010). This perspective is human centred while acknowledging that well-being and the meaning of a good life is socially and culturally embedded. It views well-being as a social process spanning the care journey and articulates the centrality of relatedness and subjectivity in understanding human thriving in context. Our focus on the relational is salient to the caregiver-care receiver dyad and provides new possibilities for understanding caregivers’ well-being in an ecology of care with shifting temporal, spatial and power dynamics.

We consider the ecology of care for FCGs to be constituted of networks of systems including policy, public sector, commercial, civil society and community actors. Being embedded within such a network should be integral to FCGs securing well-being across the care journey. First, we apply the WELLBECARE framework to public policies (comparing national caregiver policies in New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom) and reveal ways in which they contribute to objective and subjective dimensions of FCG well-being, attend to/neglect well-being processes. Extending our analysis to ecologies of care, we examine exemplars of FCG micro-ecologies (i.e. networks within which individuals interact in their FCG role) and characterise networks and relations that are sensitive to/neglect FCG’s needs and goals, enable/inhibit FCGs in diverse circumstances to realise their goals in meaningful ways and afford voice and visibility.

Relevance of the Phenomenon Being Studied
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) urge companies to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies to solve systemic societal and environmental issues (United Nations 2021). Sustainable development is defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987, p. 41) as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A recent service research priorities article calls for more research around designing and orchestrating large-scale, complex, and challenging service ecosystems for transformative impact on society and the planet (Field et al. 2021). In response, we propose the Transformative Service Ecosystems (TSE) concept for achieving sustainable services. We define a TSE as a constellation of interconnected service actors (at the micro, meso, and macro levels) that is inclusive, collaborative, and regenerative.
Potential Contributions to the Field
This study contributes to service ecosystems, TSR, and public policy research by introducing TSEs to (1) develop a conceptual understanding of how TSEs can impact the well-being of actors at the micro, meso, and macro levels, (2) identify the nature of relationships among actors in a sustainable service ecosystem, and (3) inspire sustainable service practices at various levels of a TSE.
Research Questions
The objective of our research is to introduce the concept of a TSE, discuss why TSEs are essential for sustainable service development, and propose strategies for elevating service practices to achieve sustainable service. As such, this study addresses two research questions: 1) What are the characteristics of transformative service ecosystems (TSEs)? 2) what strategies are needed at different levels of a TSE (micro, meso, macro) to achieve its goals?
Theoretical Foundations and Conceptual Framework
A service ecosystem is “a relatively self-contained, self-adjusting system of resource-integrating actors connected by shared institutional arrangements and mutual value creation through service exchange” (Vargo and Lusch 2016, pp. 10-11). TSEs contain actors that offer value propositions with one another to enable the survival and growth of the ecosystem. Our TSE definition is inspired by and theoretically grounded in the biology concept of symbiosis, which refers to intimate partnership between two or more organisms. In nature, symbiotic relationships are established among living organisms, and the partnership can be defined by mutualism (mutual interdependence), commensalism (one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm), or parasitism (one benefits at the expense of the other) (Martin and Schwab 2012). In mutualism, all entities in an ecosystem survive together to thrive together, a necessary condition for TSEs.
Discussion and Findings
Our TSE study describes strategies for achieving sustainable development at various ecosystem levels. Specifically, we disentangle the dynamic interactions between system levels through viewing TSEs through a symbiosis lens. For instance, the micro (individual) and macro (governmental/global) levels put pressure on the meso level (service organizations) to be more concerned about society and environment. How service organizations create symbiotic relationships with all ecosystem entities to achieve mutualistic goals is the focus of our study.

Motivation
Social media platforms have rapidly gained in importance in recent years. People use social media for two main reasons: self-presentation and the sense of belonging (Bughin, 2007; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004; Nadkarni & Hofmann, 2012; Toubia & Stephen, 2013). However, we know little about the role of social media in the context of topics that are usually not talked about in public. Taking into account previous research on social media, it seems paradoxical that taboo topics also have a strong presence on social media. Thus, the aim of our study is to answer the following research question: What are the underlying motives to discuss taboo topics publicly in social media? This is investigated in the context of involuntary childlessness, which is suitable for the study for various reasons: (1) Infertility and fertility treatment are considered taboo topics in public perception, (2) the issue has a strong presence on social media, and (3) involuntary childlessness is widespread – worldwide about one in six couples is affected.

Methodology
Applying the method of netnography (Kozinets, 2011), we conducted a keyword search (e.g., infertility, ART, child wish) on YouTube and Instagram in German. We expanded the top search results further using the snowball method (e.g., recommendations based on viewed YouTube videos). This way we identified a large number of private users who regularly post on the topic of involuntary childlessness. From the data material, which comprises 5.5 hours of video material from 23 videos, 47 Instagram posts and more than 2,800 comments, categories were formed inductively. For this purpose, we transcribed the YouTube videos verbatim. The data collection and the data analysis did not take place successively, but in parallel mode, until new data did not add any more insights (conceptual saturation).

Findings
We identified three different roles social media bloggers take on when posting about involuntary childlessness: (1) the patient role, (2) the supporter role and (3) the influencer role. Each role pursues a different overarching motive. When bloggers talk as patients, they aim to satisfy their own needs. Taking on the supporter role, they support other people suffering from infertility in satisfying their related needs. In their role as influencers, bloggers create awareness for the topic, de-taboo the issue and contribute to the sensitization of society. Furthermore, we identified three fertility-related needs that play a significant role in the use of social media: (1) the need for information, (2) the need for emotional support, and (3) the need for sharing experiences.

Contribution
Our research offers theoretical as well as practical contributions. Adding to social media literature, we show that motives for using social media in the context of taboo topics differ largely from those of general social media use. From a managerial perspective, our findings demonstrate the potential of social media for de-tabooing and sensitization of the society as well as for the enhancement of patients’ well-being, which is why we encourage fertility centers to integrate social media more widely in their patient support strategy.

More than 3.5 million square miles of global forest cover have been lost or degraded since 2000 (Vargas Zeppetello et al. 2020), attributed to commodity-driven deforestation, forestry, shifting agriculture, wildfire, expansion of urban centers (Curtis et al. 2018). Population inhabiting forest areas are especially vulnerable to land degradation and climate change (Shukla et al. 2019) and suffer from underdeveloped rural infrastructure and services, lack of labour and education opportunities that trigger migration and poverty (Lazarte 2017).
Services have been increasingly considered a source of social transformation, being understood as supporting the emergence of a society and economy more focused on creativity, collaboration, and sustainability (Sangiorgi 2010). The concept of service ecosystems underlines the dynamic, multi-actor, and complex nature of value co-creation (Vargo and Lusch 2016). However, resource constraints and vulnerability affect the potential for consumer involvement and participation within the ecosystem, reducing value creation and well-being (Johns and Davey 2019). Recognizing this issue, transformative services researchers focus on understanding problems and finding solutions that improve well-being and create uplifting change through services (Anderson et al. 2013; Ostrom et al. 2021), in an inclusive way (Boenigk et al. 2021).
Considering the societal and environmental challenges faced by communities in forest areas and building on a transformative service research perspective, this article aims to (1) understand the challenges faced by these communities (2) identify potential new services and their desired attributes to co-create value with these communities, decreasing their vulnerability.
A purposive sample of 28 stakeholders with in-depth involvement and experience in forest management was interviewed. This sample includes six stakeholders from industry, nine from public entities, seven from the third sector, and seven from academia. The interviews were conducted virtually (Zoom), accounting for approximately 40 hours of recordings. Additionally, two focus groups were conducted with the community, each one with 10 participants who live in forest areas. All interviews were transcribed, and data were analyzed with NVivo software and following the Gioia approach (Gioia, Corley, and Hamilton 2013).
Results show challenges related to unequal distribution of value, lack of access to services, lack of planning and technical knowledge, among other, highlighting the damaged social, economic and environmental forest ecosystem. Attributes for potential value co-creating services include cooperativeness, proximity, simplicity, interactivity, inclusiveness, adaptability, sustainability. While potential new services include those that foster active landscape management (e.g. generating value through biomass), those that add value to current services (e.g. technical or marketing support), those that increase value co-creation potential by leveraging technology (e.g. genetic improvement), and those who build on the current characteristics of these areas (e.g. attracting tourists or digital nomads).
Overall, the study provides the baseline to design sustainable service ecosystems for vulnerable communities, answering the most recent service research priorities (Field et al. 2021). Moreover, it emphasizes the need to create a set of endogenous and adapted services to co-create value with vulnerable communities in forest areas. Finally, this research can also help decision-makers and stakeholders to support value cocreation with these communities through a transformative, inclusive, and equitable policy.