Governing collaborative interactions - a multiple-case study on the platform governance of peer-to-peer marketplaces

Globally successful peer-to-peer services have inspired rapidly growing interest in platforms. Besides having become an established part of recent economics research, both collaborative consumption and platforms have found their way into our everyday lives through smart phones and news headlines, embodying the changes and opportunities brought about by digitalization. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion from an entrepreneurial viewpoint by aiming to answer the research question: how do platform entrepreneurs govern peer-to-peer marketplaces? The question is answered through three overlapping phases of research. First, previous and recent literature is reviewed and critically examined to map different definitions, theories and approaches. Second, an entrepreneurial lens is applied by focusing on the more concrete level of decisions and actions done on platforms. A contextual framework for studying platform governance, i.e. the means and mechanisms of steering, controlling, and managing them, is identified by evaluating and comparing relevant theories found among the literature streams. Third, the governance mechanisms are explored in real life situations among six peer-to-peer platforms. The empirical part of the research is conducted by utilizing the contextual framework in a comparative multiple-case study on six peer-to-peer platforms, which represent three different types of marketplaces. While a subjectivist view of multiple individual realities and subjective meanings is followed, methodologically the study represents interpretive qualitative research, where the focus is on understanding meaning in context. Primary data have been collected through one-on-one case interviews with platform entrepreneurs, and secondary data through a quantitative data set received from the marketplace platform provider Sharetribe. The results of the study depict the current field of peer-to-peer online marketplaces as well as the topics and issues confronted by entrepreneurs. The theoretical framework identified in the literature review is utilized in within- and cross-case analysis between the six platforms as well as the three marketplace types. No significant differences or similarities either within or across the different types are identified – however, the results indicate specific areas of interest for further research. The empirical findings are used to develop the governance mechanism framework further in the context of collaborative consumption. The analysis reveals that all the marketplaces represent either reactive or proactive approach for platform development, and suggests this as a noteworthy starting point for following research. Even though a case study is not one to be used for making broad statistical generalizations, by combining theoretical views and an empirically developed framework this study is of value to anyone involved or interested in managing platform business

Next Generation Business Ecosystems: Engineering Decentralized Markets, Self-Sovereign Identities and Tokenization

Digital transformation research increasingly shifts from studying information systems within organizations towards adopting an ecosystem perspective, where multiple actors co-create value. While digital platforms have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in consumer-facing industries, organizations remain cautious about fully embracing the ecosystem concept and sharing data with external partners. Concerns about the market power of platform orchestrators and ongoing discussions on privacy, individual empowerment, and digital sovereignty further complicate the widespread adoption of business ecosystems, particularly in the European Union. In this context, technological innovations in Web3, including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, have emerged as potential catalysts for disrupting centralized gatekeepers and enabling a strategic shift towards user-centric, privacy-oriented next-generation business ecosystems. However, existing research efforts focus on decentralizing interactions through distributed network topologies and open protocols lack theoretical convergence, resulting in a fragmented and complex landscape that inadequately addresses the challenges organizations face when transitioning to an ecosystem strategy that harnesses the potential of disintermediation. To address these gaps and successfully engineer next-generation business ecosystems, a comprehensive approach is needed that encompasses the technical design, economic models, and socio-technical dynamics. This dissertation aims to contribute to this endeavor by exploring the implications of Web3 technologies on digital innovation and transformation paths. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, it makes three overarching contributions: First, a conceptual perspective on \u27tokenization\u27 in markets clarifies its ambiguity and provides a unified understanding of the role in ecosystems. This perspective includes frameworks on: (a) technological; (b) economic; and (c) governance aspects of tokenization. Second, a design perspective on \u27decentralized marketplaces\u27 highlights the need for an integrated understanding of micro-structures, business structures, and IT infrastructures in blockchain-enabled marketplaces. This perspective includes: (a) an explorative literature review on design factors; (b) case studies and insights from practitioners to develop requirements and design principles; and (c) a design science project with an interface design prototype of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Third, an economic perspective on \u27self-sovereign identities\u27 (SSI) as micro-structural elements of decentralized markets. This perspective includes: (a) value creation mechanisms and business aspects of strategic alliances governing SSI ecosystems; (b) business model characteristics adopted by organizations leveraging SSI; and (c) business model archetypes and a framework for SSI ecosystem engineering efforts. The dissertation concludes by discussing limitations as well as outlining potential avenues for future research. These include, amongst others, exploring the challenges of ecosystem bootstrapping in the absence of intermediaries, examining the make-or-join decision in ecosystem emergence, addressing the multidimensional complexity of Web3-enabled ecosystems, investigating incentive mechanisms for inter-organizational collaboration, understanding the role of trust in decentralized environments, and exploring varying degrees of decentralization with potential transition pathways

A qualitative examination of cybercriminal governance in China

Profit-driven cybercrime has evolved into a sophisticated industry, inflicting millions of dollars in losses on the world economy. However, limited research has been conducted on the extra-legal governance of this industry, particularly in China, one of the world's most prominent cybercrime hotspots. This study, based on comprehensive fieldwork in China from 2020 to 2022 and an analysis of both primary and secondary data, seeks to address this gap. It endeavours to answer the question: How is the cybercrime industry governed in China? In line with previous research on extra-legal governance, this study finds that Chinese cybercriminals have developed a series of private governance systems, encompassing both self-governance and third-party governance, to facilitate their business interactions. In addition, this study offered three main new findings that can be added to our understanding of extra-legal governance. Firstly, self-governance is notably effective in online marketplaces due to the swift transmission of information, thus diminishing the necessity for third-party governance in the cybercrime market and the use of violence. Secondly, cybercriminal firms tend to be less predatory than traditional criminal firms, likely attributed to the reduced need for territorial resources. Lastly, cybercriminals can relocate to countries where protectors are present and continue their illicit activities remotely, with protection being more likely offered when the inflicted harm does not impact the protector's own country’s residents, and the political and economic gains outweigh the costs. This availability of protection could potentially elucidate the ongoing global dispersion of cybercriminals

First Amendment Showdown: Intellectual Diversity Mandates and the Academic Marketplace

Once described as a quintessential marketplace of ideas by the Supreme Court of the United States, the academic marketplace has been criticized recently for institutionalizing a left-leaning ideology within its curriculum and academic discourse. As a result, national activists and organizations have been calling on state legislatures and university administrators to adopt policies and report on steps taken to encourage intellectual diversity and protect political and cultural minorities from faculty bias and academic retribution in the classroom and other university settings. But who would win a constitutional showdown between the academy and those seeking to infuse academic discourse with alternative viewpoints? Based on an analysis of the First Amendment concerns at stake in this ongoing controversy, this article concludes that university administrators should have the upper hand in such a constitutional challenge given the specific characteristics and selective nature of the academic marketplace

Decrypting the Trends of International Regulatory Competition in Cryptoassets

The icos market has challenged financial regulators in terms of determining fit with existing regimes and consideration for regulatory reform. Regulatory divergences have emerged in a number of jurisdictions and we discuss three dominant approaches in relation to hegemonic, self-regulatory and enabling regimes. These reflect different assumptions and regulators’ understandings of the cryptoasset industry, and we argue that the ‘terms for competition’ in relation to supply and demand side needs are still being discovered and are incomplete. This provides a unique opportunity for regulators to jettison familiar assumptions in relation to corporatized securities issuers or institutional investors in order to discover what governance needs are truly at stake. This may pose challenges for coherence with existing regulation but coherence should not itself be an obstacle for learning and potentially, reform. We also argue that signs of international regulatory coordination in relation to the Libra project are not necessarily reflective of a wider trend for the cryptoasset industry. This is because regulators can apply existing and familiar financial regulation paradigms more easily to the Libra Association, in particular its leading founding member Facebook. The cryptoasset market is still likely to give rise to diversity and should facilitate the discovery of new bases for regulatory thinking and policy, uncoordinated or otherwise

Data as an economic good, data as a commons, and data governance

This paper provides a systematic and critical review of the economics literature on data as an economic good and draws lessons for data governance. We conclude that focusing on data as an economic good in governance efforts is hardwired to only result in more data production and cannot deliver other societal goals contrary to what is often claimed in the literature and policy. Data governance is often a red herring which distracts from other digital problems. The governance of digital society cannot rely exclusively on data-centric economic models. We review the literatures and the underlying empirical and political claims concerning data commons. While commons thinking is useful to frame digital problems in terms of ecologies, it has important limitations. We propose a political-ecological approach to governing the digital society, defined by ecological thinking about governance problems and the awareness of the political nature of framing the problems and mapping their ecological makeup