Relations Between Actors in Digital Platform Ecosystems: A Literature Review

Digital platform ecosystems are a popular field of study in information systems and an economic structure of significant importance worldwide. However, we know little about what relations exist between and among actors on digital platforms. Findings of mutually beneficial interactions, cooperation, and value creation contrast findings of power, dependency, control, governance, rules, and competition in the ecosystem. To shed light on this issue, we conduct a structured literature review of information systems and management literature. In 144 studies, we find 19 different relations between and among platform owner, complementors, and end-users. We contribute to research in three ways. First, by discovering that instability of roles on digital platforms explains dual roles and the dynamics of roles more holistically than concepts that account for specific dual roles. Second, by finding weighting in the relations. Third, by observing nestedness of relations

Consequences of Project Team Member Turnover for agile Information Systems Development Teams: A Multiple Case Study

Turnover of IT professionals has been at the center of IT workforce research, mainly focusing on individual level drivers and consequences. This paper explores how turnover events affect the dynamics of agile software development (ISD) teams. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews in seven cases to understand team-level consequences of turnover events. We found that ISD teams who directly or indirectly experienced turnover events are confronted with the following four consequences on the group level: (1) group dynamics shift, leading to (2) interpersonal voids, and (3) voids of expertise which consequently leads to (4) rebalancing resources. Through our work, we contribute to a better understanding of how coping processes that start after collective turnover occurs in agile ISD teams are shaped at the group level

ARE YOU READY FOR DEVOPS? REQUIRED SKILL SET FOR DEVOPS TEAMS

In order to react quickly to changing environments and build a customer-centric setup, more and more organizations are deciding to work with the agile IT software development approach. But for the fast delivery of new software features in very short time, other parts of the IT department are necessary as well. Hence, the DevOps concept appears and connects development to IT operations activities within service-centric IT teams. To date, there has been very little empir-ical research on the skills required for the successful setup of a DevOps-oriented IT team. This study addresses this gap by conducting a multi-perspective research. We have collected data with the help of a workshop and interviews with IT experts. Seven skill categories—full-stack development, analysis, functional, decision-making, social, testing, and advisory skills—with 36 concrete skills were identified. Our study highlights that a combination of distinct development, operations, and management skills is necessary to successfully work within a DevOps team. This research explains core DevOps skill categories and provides a deeper understanding of the skill set of an ideal DevOps team setting. We describe these skills and skill categories and list their implications for research and practice

IT Professionals in the Gig Economy - The Success of IT Freelancers on Digital Labor Platforms

When IT work is performed through digital labor markets, IT professionals have a high degree of personal responsibility for their careers and must use appropriate strategies to be successful. This paper investigates the success of IT freelancers on digital labor platforms. Drawing on signaling theory, a dataset of 7166 IT freelancers is used to examine how activating, pointing, and supporting signals lead to success. Analysis was carried out using negative binomial regression. The results indicate that the three signaling types positively influence the objective career success of IT freelancers. This paper contributes to the literature by testing signaling theory in the new context of digital labor platforms, investigating IT specifics, and proposing support as a new type of signal for IT professionals on digital labor platforms. In practice, the results provide guidelines for IT freelancers to improve their success within their careers

Understanding the Careers of IT Freelancers on Digital Labor Platforms

Online freelancing as an alternative working form increasingly gains prominence in research and practice. Here, independent workers offer services on digital labor platforms. While the general understanding of this form of work increases, IT work performed in this form is not fully understood. Especially the collaborative nature of IT work and the high, rapidly changing skill level required, affects the career development of IT freelancers. Therefore, this study aims to understand how the careers of IT freelancers evolve. To answer our research question, we conduct an exploratory analysis of twelve IT freelancers on a digital labor platform. We develop an IT freelancing career process model. Furthermore, we outline advancement and decline mechanisms and different exit options from the digital labor platform. We also illustrate the role of IT freelancer teams. Our findings thus contribute to the body of knowledge on IT work and alternative work forms on digital labor platforms

Investigating the Performance Effects of Diversity Faultlines in IT Project Teams

To complete complex and knowledge-intensive tasks, IT work critically relies on the interaction of team members. While heralded as a contribution to performance, diversity is also linked to negative team outcomes. Given the critical role of team collaboration, we investigate the effects of diversity on performance in IT projects. Drawing on faultline theory as a measure of diversity, we develop and test hypotheses on the performance effects of the strength of identity- and knowledge-based faultlines and the number of resulting factions in 424 IT projects. While insignificant, knowledge-based faultlines positively relate to performance. The number of potential group divisions has a positive effect if identity-based and a negative effect if knowledge-based. Unexpectedly, we find identity-based faultlines to significantly improve performance. Findings are of value to research by furthering knowledge on the specifics of IT work and effects of diversity. For practice, we provide important considerations for how teams can be designed to achieve superior outcomes

The Gig Economy: Workers, Work and Platform Perspective

In recent years, the gig economy has changed the way many people work. This research phenomenon has attracted scientists from many different fields to an emerging field of research. Given the actuality of the topic and diversity of perspectives, there is a great need to collect and connect what has been researched which can serve as a basis for future discussions. Starting with a collection of 139 publications on the gig economy, gig work and related terms, we identify some trends in the literature and the underlying research interests. In particular, we organize the literature around the concept of the gig economy in terms of gig workers, gig work, and digital platforms, and draw several interesting insights from the literature. Finally, we identify important gaps in the existing literature on working in the gig economy and provide guidance for future research

Enabling Non-Professional Users To Bring Physical Processes Into The Industrial Metaverse

Augmented reality is essential for the Metaverse because, with this technology, people, spaces, and things can be digitally and physically intertwined. But the creation of AR content is a very complex process carried out by technically skilled developers. For the Metaverse, it is necessary to enable non-professional users to create AR content. We, therefore, want to study the challenges that non-professional users face while creating AR content for process guidance systems that represents a physical process. For this reason, we conducted an exploratory analysis using ten AR authoring experts and arranged a focus group with domain experts and AR authoring experts. As a result, we identified four fundamental design requirements on how an AR authoring tool must be designed to bring physical processes into the Metaverse. Thus, we contribute to understanding AR-based process guidance systems and enable the instantiation and evaluation of an AR authoring tool in large DSR project

How Engineers perform Data Science Work: Designing Hybrid Roles

As of today, organizations are still struggling to derive consistent value from data science projects. The basic relevance of domain knowledge for data science work can be considered as common sense. Engineers, in particular, offer a unique view on emerging data science work, based on their critical role within traditional industries. As a constraint, current studies on data science work consider domain experts as rather passive and engineering-related studies are rare. To further explore these challenges, the present study analyses data science work of 30 engineers at an international automotive supplier. Investigating three cases, the evolvement of hybrid data science work can be derived, which combines two perspectives: engineering and data science. Thus, engineers actively incorporate the data science perspective, particularly when development activities involve minimal participation of data scientists. This contribution significantly enhances existing knowledge by demonstrating how engineers embrace the data scientists’ perspective and perform hybrid data work