The promotion path of contract-based water conservation from the perspective of value co-creation

With the transformation of water resources management from an“extensive” to a “refined” approach, the traditional administrative-led water conservation model is no longer able to meet the practical needs of efficient use of water resources. Therefore, it is urgent to explore new market-oriented water conservation mechanisms.Contract-based water conservation, as one of the important measures to solve the micro dilemma of traditional water conservation by using the “hand of the market”, can significantly improve the efficiency of water resource utilization by introducing professional services and social capital. Due to the late start of contract water conservation practice in China and the exploration stage, its large-scale promotion still faces problems such as low willingness of water users to participate, weak technological innovation capabilities of water-saving service enterprises, and insufficient coordination of government policies. To solve the dilemma of promoting contract-based water conservation, from the perspective of value co-creation, this paper uses grounded theory to conduct a comparative analysisof typical contract-based water conservation cases, deconstructs the evolution mechanism of its value co-creation behavior logic, and then forms a feasiblepromotion path for contract-based water conservation.The results show that from the perspective of water-saving valueco-creation, the endogenous driving force of the market should be stimulated in the new era from three aspects: integration of policy traction and demand, multi-subject collaborative linkage, and an innovative contract-based conservation model, thus promoting the implementation of contract-based waterconservation projectsand realizing the construction of a water-saving society.