Purpose: While some hydrogen (H2) products are available in the industrial market,
new clean H2 applications are considered critical alternatives in decarbonization
efforts. As suppliers need to understand how business customers conceive the value
of hydrogen, this paper aims to investigate how the value of hydrogen is described
in the published evidence and to identify or propose specific tools to assess its
value.
Design/methodology/approach: An integrative literature review is developed to synthesize
studies on the value of hydrogen to identify the main value categories. Then, the
authors create a novel guideline by linking three value dimensions: 1) the product-oriented
value (including sustainability), 2) the elements of B2B value and 3) the concept
of goal-oriented value.
Findings: This paper categorizes the aspects of value discussed so far in the literature,
suggesting conceptualizing the value of H2 value-in-use based on economic, environmental,
social and technological categories. The missing value categories from the marketing
perspective are related to perceived value. A comprehensive guideline for assessing
the value of H2 for business customers was developed to address that gap. The guideline
can evaluate hydrogen from a multicategory perspective and compare new hydrogen products
with alternatives.
Originality/value: First, the authors present the value of hydrogen in the B2B marketing
discussion. Second, the authors propose four hydrogen value categories based on the
current state-of-the-art. Third, the authors developed the multicategory guideline
for assessing the value of hydrogen products for business customers (VH2-BC).