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[ 986CABUCB4K22 ] KS CB4: Digital transformation and platform economy
Versionsauswahl
Workload Education level Study areas Responsible person Hours per week Coordinating university
3 ECTS M1 - Master's programme 1. year Business Administration Robert Bauer 2 hpw Johannes Kepler University Linz
Detailed information
Pre-requisites SE BC2: Induction: Team development UND SE BC1: Foundations of management UND KS BC3: Foundations of management science
Original study plan Master's programme Leadership and Innovation in Organizations 2024W
Objectives This course provides stu¬dents with an opportunity to study current developments in the still-ongoing emergence of platform-enabled crowds and the platforms that enable them. It offers economic, sociological and organizational perspectives aimed at explaining what platforms and platform-enabled crowds are, what they do, and how they impact business and society.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this seminar, students will have the ability to:

  • LO1: Students can analyze, infer and invent beyond current affairs—imagining and critically evaluating possi¬ble futures of platform and crowd organizing and its societal, economic and managerial implications.
  • LO2: Students understand the principles underlying the platform economy. They understand the societal, economic and managerial relevance of platform- and crowd-based organizing with a particular emphasis on (a) platforms as digital exchange infrastructures that enable dynamic interplays between for-profit and not-for-profit activities; (b) platform architectures as technological configurations, (re-)combining advanced digital technologies for ubiquitous connectedness, archiving and profiling, automated content and action generation, verification authentication/verification of documents (e.g. distributed ledger) and online-to-offline transformation (e.g. generative manufacturing); (c) crowds as exceedingly large, more or less heterogeneous social bodies that possess varying degrees of actorhood, and (d) platforms’ socio-economic environments encompassing users/customers, suppliers, competitors, media and political/regulatory bodies.
  • LO3: Students are can analyze cases of platform- and crowd-based organizing applying explanatory core concepts. In particular, they can identify, compare and critically assess the merits and limits of conceptualizing platform-crowd dyads as (a) (multi-sided) markets monetizing network effects, (b) partial and data-based organizations, and (c) (online and offline) communities, (d) embedded in institutional environments.
  • LO4: Students can analyze academic literature for its practical implications from a corporate as well as from a societal impact perspective.
  • LO5: Students are capable of acquiring scientific knowledge from primary scholarly sources—sum-marizing articles, determining their key messages and critically evaluating them.
  • LO6: Students are capable of acquiring knowledge from a variety of sources, ranging from advanced scholarly literature to applied practitioner discourses. They can critically evaluate this knowledge, creatively recombine it and thus responsibly formulate, illustrate, elaborate on and defend their own opinion.
Subject The Internet, arguably the most advanced disruptive technology of our time, is giving rise to a new type of economy: the so-called platform economy, in which product platforms and digital exchange platforms have moved to the center stage. Focusing on the latter, exchange platforms, this course addresses

  • platforms as new digital exchange infrastructures,
  • platform-hosted crowds as an arguably new type of collective actor,
  • and platform- and crowd-based organizing as a new frontier for managing in the digital era.

Crowd-based organizing is essentially concerned with sustainably mobilizing large numbers of distributed actors (i.e. the crowd) and structuring their activities in order to achieve specific purposes, thus requiring governance and business models. Platform-hosted crowds engage in a large variety of productive activities: Prominent business-to-customer examples include crowd-based ride hailing (e.g. Uber, Lyft) and accommodation (e.g. Airbnb, HomeAway); as exemplary business-to-business cases, consider creative industries, specifically crowdsourced graphic design (e.g. 99designs) and crowd-produced stock photo (e.g. iStock, Shutterstock). Furthermore, crowds provide capital and labor: as for the former, so-called crowdfunding ranges from investment to donation (e.g. Kickstarter, Indiegogo); as for the latter, crowds rendering unspecific services (e.g. MTurk, Upwork) act as digital workforces that, upon request, execute simple or complex tasks, specified and paid for by individual or corporate customers.

A growing body of research on how these platforms operate, sheds light on how digital platforms run by relatively small organizations create significant monetary and non-monetary value through mobilizing and organizing large platform-hosted crowds. However, these platforms evolve quickly. While some questions appear to have been answered, many more have arisen—in particular with respect to the societal implications of the digital economy, now frequently referred to as platform capitalism.

Criteria for evaluation
  • Presence in class is mandatory.
  • The grade is based on four assessment categories (see below for task descriptions):
    • Pre-reading: Preparatory task (10 points max.=min.)
      • The preparatory task is graded pass/fail (pass=10 points; fail=0 points)
        • LO5
    • Homework: Article summaries (40 points max., 20 points min.)
      • Students submit two summaries per topic, four of which are graded (10 points max. each).
        • LO5
    • Final exam (40 points max., 20 points min.)
      • In the final exam students write an essay within a space/word limit. Topics address core readings and in-class contents (i.e. discussions and practice talks).
        • LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO6
    • Class participation (10 points max.)
      • LO1, LO6,
  • To pass this course, in each category (except class participation) a certain minimum of points must be reached. If so, total points translate into the final grade as follows:
Points100-8786-7574-6362-5049-0
GradeExcellent "Sehr Gut"Good “Gut”Satisfying "Befriedigend"Sufficient "Genügend"Fail "Nicht genügend"
Methods The offering that particularly sets universities apart from other educational institutions is the intimate link between teaching and current research. In this course the emergence of a platform economy, an ongoing development of arguably utmost societal and economic relevance, is explored based on topical international research, including that of LIO faculty who have contributed to this growing body of knowledge and continue to do so. In addition, a complementary seminar is offered, in which students conduct their own research on the topic at hand.

Moreover, this course is predicated on viewing LIO alumni as capable knowledge brokers, who master a wide range of discourses—from advanced and highly specialized scholarly discourses to research-backed practitioner discourses, to various public discourses. In this view, today, the ability to access, evaluate and translate knowledge—including knowledge only to be produced in the future—trumps the ability to memorize, reproduce and act in accordance with already-existing knowledge (although, naturally, the former cannot be completely separated from the latter).

In a similar vein, the course includes a minimum of three practitioner talks, the platform-economy speaker series, delivered by distinguished speakers from leading Austrian digital-economy companies.

This course rests on two main didactical pillars, namely self-study before class, and dialogue in class. First, to prepare for class students read the core readings and write concise summaries. Sec¬ond, in-class sessions focus on deepening and broadening the foundational knowledge ac¬quired before. Sessions combine short lectures, extensive reflective discussions, practical (individ¬ual and team) exercises, and talks from guest speakers. Each session is more or less divided into two parts, one dealing with the literature, the other one either deep¬ening the knowledge from the literature through practical exercises or addressing a related topic, thereby broadening students’ understanding of the digital economy.
Language English
Study material Along seven main topic areas, this course enables a foundational understanding of management and organization in a platform- and crowd-based economy. The core readings have to be read by all and constitute examined knowledge. These articles are available for download here.

In addition, the reading list contains “further readings” recommended to students seeking additional knowledge (e.g. for deciding on the topics of their master theses). Also, during in-class sessions, the instructor introduces some insights from “Further Readings” to the class.

Topic 1: Introduction to the Platform Economy

What is a platform? How do digital platforms transform modern societies and economies? What drives the platform economy?

Core Readings

  • Alaimo, C. 2022. From People to Objects: The digital transformation of fields. Organization Studies, 43/7: 1091–1114.
  • Cutolo, D, A Hargadon & M Kenney. 2021. Competing on Platforms. MIT Sloan Management Review, 62/3: 22-28, 30

Further Readings

  • Benkler, Y. 2002. Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and "The Nature of the Firm". Yale Law Journal, 112/3: 369-446.
  • Bodrožić, Z & PS Adler. 2018. The Evolution of Management Models: A Neo-Schumpeterian Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 63/1: 85-129.
  • Helmond, A, DB Nieborg & FN van der Vlist. 2019. Facebook’s Evolution: Development of a Plat-form-as-Infrastructure. Internet Histories, 3/2: 123-146.
  • Kenney, M & J Zysman. 2016. The Rise of the Platform Economy. Issues in Science and Technology, 32/3: 61-69.
  • McAfee, A & E Brynjolfsson. 2017. Machine, Platform, Crowd. New York, NY: Norton.
  • Srnicek, N. 2017. Platform Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity

Topic 2: Crowdsourcing—How It All Began

What is crowdsourcing? How did crowdsourcing evolve? How does crowdsourcing create value? What is the dark side of crowdsourcing? Cui bono?

Core Readings

  • Afuah, A & CL Tucci. 2012. Crowdsourcing as a Solution for Distant Search. Academy of Management Review, 37/3: 355-375.
  • Bauer, RM & T Gegenhuber. 2015. Crowdsourcing: Global Search and the Twisted Roles of Consumers and Pro¬ducers. Organization, 22/5: 661-681.

Further Readings

  • Majchrzak, A & A Malhotra. 2020. Unleashing the Crowd. London & New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters 8–10.
  • Dahlander, L, LB Jeppesen & H Piezunka. 2019. How Do Organizations Manage Crowds: De-fine, Broadcast, Attract, and Select. In Sydow, J & H Berends (Eds.). Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 64: 239–270.
  • Raymond, ES. 1999. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly.

Topic 3: Digital Markets—The Struggle for and with Platform Monopolies

What are the key characteristics of digital markets? Are digital exchange platforms two-sided mar¬kets—which ones and to what extent? What are critical the success factors for platform and plat¬form-dependent business models? How and to what extent are digital markets organized?

Core Readings

  • Eisenmann, T, G Parker & MW Van Alstyne. 2006. Strate¬gies for Two-Sided Markets. Harvard Business Re¬view, 84/10: 92-101.
  • Zhu, F & M Iansiti. 2019. Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don’t. Harvard Business Review, 97/1: 118–125.

Note: Write one summary, treating the above two articles as if they were one.

  • Rietveld, J, JN Ploog & DB Nieborg. 2020. The Coevolution of Platform Dominance and Gover-nance Strategies: Effects on Complementor Performance Outcomes. Academy of Manage¬ment Discoveries, 6/3: 488–513.

Further Readings
Platform Economics and Business Models

  • McIntyre, D, A Srinivasan, A Afuah, A Gawer & T Kretschmer. 2021. Multisided Platforms as New Organizational Forms. Academy of Management Perspectives, 35/4: 566-583.
  • Rietveld, J & MA Schilling. 2021. Platform competition: A systematic and interdisciplinary review of the literature. Journal of Management, 47/6: 1528–1563.
  • Cennamo, C. 2021. Competing in Digital Markets: A Platform-Based Perspective. Academy of Management Perspectives, 35/2: 265–291.
  • Cusumano, M. 2022. Guidepost: The Evolution of Research on Industry Platforms. Academy of Management Discoveries, 8/1: 7-14.
  • Massa, L, CL Tucci & A Afuah. 2017. A Critical Assess¬ment of Business Model Research. Acad-emy of Man¬agement Annals, 11/1: 73-104.
  • Teece, DJ. 2018. Profiting from Innovation in the Digital Economy: Enabling Technologies, Stand¬ards, and Li¬censing Models in the Wireless World. Research Pol¬icy, 47/8: 1367-1387.

Partial Organizations

  • Kirchner, S & E Schüßler. 2018. The Organization of Digi¬tal Marketplaces: Unmasking the Role of Internet Plat¬forms as Market Organizers. In G Ahrne, & N Brunsson (Eds.), Organization Unbound: 131–154. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Ahrne, G, P Aspers & N Brunsson. 2014. The Organiza¬tion of Markets. Organization Studies, 36/1: 7-27.
  • Nielsen, KR. 2018. Crowdfunding through a Partial Organization Lens — The Co-Dependent Or-ganization. European Management Journal, 36/6: 695-707

Topic 4: Social Embeddedness—Platform-Enabled Crowds as Communities

What are communities and how can they be governed? What are advantages and disadvantages of community-based organizing? What are the specificities of digital (i.e. virtual or online) commu¬nities? How do plat¬forms leverage community dynamics?

Core Readings

  • Langner, B & VP Seidel. 2015. Sustaining the Flow of Ex¬ternal Ideas: The Role of Dual Social Identity across Communities and Organizations. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32/4: 522–538.
  • Fisher, G. 2019. Online Communities and Firm Advantages. Academy of Management Review, 44/2: 279-298.
  • Schor, JB & SP Vallas. 2021. The Sharing Economy: Rhetoric and Reality. Annual Review of Sociology, 47/1: 369-389.

Further Readings

  • Brint, S. 2001. Gemeinschaft Revisited: A Critique and Re¬construction of the Community Con-cept. Social The¬ory, 19/1: 1-23.
  • Faraj, S, SL Jarvenpaa & A Majchrzak. 2011. Knowledge Collaboration in Online Communities. Or¬ganization Science, 22/5: 1224-1239.
  • Grabher, G & J König. 2020. Disruption, Embedded. A Polanyian Framing of the Platform Econ-omy. Sociologica, 14/1: 95-118.
  • Jeppeson. LB, L Frederikson. 2006 Why Do Users Contribute to Firm-Hosted User Communities? The Case of Computer-Controlled Music Instruments. Organization Science 17(1):45-63.
  • Murray, A, S Kotha & G Fisher. 2020. Community-Based Resource Mobilization: How Entrepre-neurs Acquire Resources from Distributed Non-Professionals via Crowdfunding. Organization Science, 31/4: 960-989.
  • O'Mahony, S & F Ferraro. 2007. The Emergence of Gov¬ernance in an Open Source Community. Academy of Management Journal, 50/5: 1079–1106.
  • O’Mahony, S & KR Lakhani. 2011. Organizations in the Shadow of Communities. In C Marquis, M Lounsbury & R Greenwood (Eds.). Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Communities and Organizations, 33: 3–36. Bingley: Emerald.
  • Reischauer, G & J Mair. 2018. How Organizations Strategically Govern Online Communi¬ties: Les¬sons from the Sharing Economy. Academy of Management Discoveries 4: 8-31.
  • Schor, J. 2020. After Gig. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. Chapter 5: 122-147.

Topic 5: Organizing Crowds and Platforms—The Role of Data, AI and Cryptography

How do platforms’ structures and process for dividing labor and ensuring coordination differ from that of traditional organizations? What are the organizational architectures within and across plat¬forms? What is the role of fundamental digital technologies such as data, AI and cryptography in (re-)designing organizations for the platform economy?

Core Readings

  • Gregory, RW, O Henfridsson, E Kaganer & H Kyriakou. 2020. The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Data Network Effects for Creating User Value. Academy of Management Review, 46/3: 534–551.
  • Lumineau, F, W Wang & O Schilke. 2021. Blockchain Governance—A New Way of Organizing Collaborations? Organization Science, 32/2: 500-521.

Further Readings
Data, Algorithms and Encryption

  • Vergne, JP. 2020. Decentralized vs. Distributed Organization: Blockchain, Machine Learning and the Future of the Digital Platform. Organization Theory, 1/4: 1–26.
  • Alaimo, C & J Kallinikos. 2022. Organizations Decentered: Data Objects, Technology and Knowl¬-edge. Organization Science, 33/1: 19-37.
  • Kellogg, KC, MA Valentine & A Christi. 2020. Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control. Academy of Management Annals, 14/1: 366-410.
  • Just, N & M Latzer. 2017. Governance by Algorithms: Reality Construction by Algorithmic Se¬lec-tion on the Internet. Media, Culture & Society, 39/2: 238-258.
  • Hartmann, P & J Henkel. 2020. The Rise of Corporate Science in AI: Data as a Strategic Re-source. Academy of Management Discoveries, 6/3: 359–381.

Communicatively Constituted Organizations

  • Dobusch, L & D Schoeneborn. 2015. Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communi¬ca¬tive Constitution of Anonymous. Journal of Management Studies, 52/8: 1005-1035.
  • Schoeneborn, D, TR Kuhn & D Kärreman. 2019. The Communicative Constitution of Organiza-tion, Organizing, and Organizationality. Organization Studies, 40/4: 475-496.

Topic 6: Towards Conceptual Integration—Rethinking Crowd and Platform Organizing

What are the merits and limitations of concepts such as market, organizations and community in explain-ing digital platforms and crowds? Are there any principles or concepts beyond market, or¬ganiza¬tion and community that can explain digital platforms and crowds? If so, which ones are the most promising candidates?

Core Readings

  • Bauer, RM. 2023. Rethinking exchange—with an application to the constitutive role of unilateral exchange in platform capitalism. Working paper presented at 39th EGOS Colloquium, Cagliari.
  • Gawer, A. 2022. Digital platforms and ecosystems: Remarks on the dominant organizational forms of the digital age. Innovation: Organization and Management, 24/1: 110–124.

Further Readings
Platform Theory

  • Chen, L, TW Tong, S Tang & N Han. 2021. Governance and Design of Digital Platforms: A Re-view and Future Research Directions on a Meta-Organization. Journal of Management, 48/1: 147-184.
  • Dolata, U & J-F Schrape. 2016. Masses, Crowds, Communities, Movements: Collective Action in the Internet Age, Social Movement Studies, 15/1: 1-18
  • de Vaujany, F-X, A Leclercq-Vandelannoitte & R Holt. 2020. Communities Versus Platforms: The Paradox in the Body of the Collaborative Economy. Journal of Management Inquiry, 29/4: 450–467.
  • Gawer, A. 2014. Bridging Differing Perspectives on Technological Platforms: Toward an Inte¬gra-tive Framework. Research Policy, 43/7: 1239-1249.

Discourse Analysis

  • Schüßler, E, W Attwood-Charles, S Kirchner & JB Schor. 2021. Between mutuality, autonomy and domination: Rethinking digital platforms as contested relational structures. Socio-Economic Review, 19/4: 1222–1229
  • Vallas, S & Schor, JB. 2020. What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 46: 16.1-16.22.

Product platforms and innovation ecosystems

  • Jacobides, MG, C Cennamo & A Gawer. 2018. Towards a Theory of Ecosystems. Strategic Man¬agement Jour¬nal, 39/8: 2255-2276.
  • Kretschmer, T, A Leiponen, MA Schilling & G Vasudeva. 2022. Platform ecosystems as meta-organizations: Implications for platform strategies. Strategic Management Journal, 43/3: 405–424.
  • O'Mahony, S & R Karp. 2020. From proprietary to collective governance: How do platform participation strategies evolve? Strategic Management Journal, 43/3: 530-562.

Topic 7: Impact—Selected Societal Implications of digital exchange platforms

What are the main regulatory issues accompanying the platform economy? For instance, what are the implications of the platform economy for surveillance and data protection, (new) work and labor rights, truth and democracy? How does the plat¬form economy spur inequality along such dimen¬sions as for example class, race or gender? What are alternative modes of platform organizing?

Core Readings

  • Weiskopf, R & HK Hansen. 2022. Algorithmic governmentality and the space of ethics: Exam-ples from ‘People Analytics’. Human Relations: In press.
  • Cioffi, JW, MF Kenney & J Zysman. 2022. Platform power and regulatory politics: Polanyi for the twenty-first century. New Political Economy, 27/5: 820-836.
  • Read (or skim through) but do not write a summary: Gawer, A. & Srnicek, N. 2021. Online plat-forms: Economic and societal effects. Brussels: Scientific Foresight Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). Chapter 7: Policy Options, pp. 82-103

Further Readings (many issues, hence many readings…)

Fundamental Perspectives

  • Flyverbom, M. 2022. Overlit: Digital Architectures of Visibility. Organization Theory, 3/3:1-16
  • Flyverbom, M, R Deibert & D Matten. 2019. The Governance of Digital Technology, Big Data, and the Internet: New Roles and Responsibilities for Business. Business & Society, 58/1: 3-19.
  • Trittin-Ulbrich, H, AG Scherer, I Munro & G Whelan. 2020. Exploring the Dark and Unexpected Sides of Digitalization: Toward a Critical Agenda. Organization, 28/1: 8-25.
  • Schildt, H. 2022. The Institutional Logic of Digitalization, Research in the Sociology of Organi¬za-tions: Digital Transformation and Institutional Theory, 83: 235-251.
  • European Parliamentary Research Service. 2020. A governance framework for algo¬rith¬mic accountability and transparency. European Union: Brussels.
  • European Commission. 2020. Whitepaper: On Artificial Intelligence—A European approach to excellence and trust. Brussels: European Commission

Data Protection

  • West, SM. 2019. Data Capitalism: Redefining the Logics of Surveillance and Privacy. Business & Society, 58/1: 20-41.
  • Dolata, U. 2019. Privatization, Curation, Commodification. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Sozi¬olo-gie, 44/1: 181-197.
  • Zuboff, S. 2015. Big other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civili¬za-tion. Journal of Information Technology, 30/1: 75-89.
  • Zuboff, S. 2022. Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Death Match of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in Our Information Civilization. Organization Theory, 3/3: 1-79.
  • Brayne, S. 2017. Big Data Surveillance: The Case of Polic¬ing. American Sociological Review, 82/5: 977–1008.
  • Nuccio, M & M Guerzoni. 2019. Big Data: Hell or Heaven? Digital Platforms and Market Power in the Data-Driven Economy. Competition & Change, 23/3: 312-328.

Labor Standards

  • Berg, J, M Furrer, E Harmon, U Rani & MS Silberman. 2018. Digital Labour Platforms and the Fu¬ture of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World. Geneva: International Labour Or¬ga-niza¬tion.
  • Gegenhuber, T, M Ellmer & E Schüßler. 2020. Microphones, not Megaphones: Functional Crowdworker Voice Regimes on Digital Work Platforms. Human Relations, 74/9: 1473-1503.
  • Silberman, MS & L Irani. 2016. Operating an Employer Reputation System: Lessons from Turkop¬ti¬con, 2008-2015. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 37/1: 505-542.
  • van Doorn, N & A Badger. 2020. Platform Capitalism’s Hidden Abode: Producing Data Assets in the Gig Economy. Antipode, in print.

Inequality

  • Eubanks, V. 2018. Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. St. Martin's Press.
  • Khan, LM. 2016. Amazon's Antitrust Paradox. Yale Law Journal, 126: 710-805.
  • Schor, JB & W Attwood‐Charles. 2017. The “Sharing” Economy: Labor, Inequality, and Social Connection on For‐Profit Platforms. Sociology Compass, 11/8: e12493.
  • Schor, JB. 2017. Does the Sharing Economy Increase Inequality within the Eighty Percent? Findings from a Qualitative Study of Platform Providers. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Econ-omy and Society, 10/2: 263-279.
  • Thelen, K. 2018. Regulating Uber: The Politics of the Platform Economy in Europe and the United States. Perspectives on Politics, 16/4: 938-953.

Alternative Platform Organizing

  • Mair, J & N Rathert. 2019. Alternative Organizing with Social Purpose: Revisiting Institutional Analysis of Market-based Activity. Socio-Economic Review, 19/2: 817–836.
  • Scholz, T. 2016. Platform Cooperativism. Challenging the Corporate Sharing Economy. New York, NY: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
  • Kornberger, M, S Leixnering, RE Meyer & MA Höllerer. 2018. Rethinking the Sharing Economy: The Nature and Organization of Sharing in the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4/3: 314-335.
Changing subject? No
Further information For quality assurance and improvement purposes, please participate in all JKU course evaluations and surveys!
Corresponding lecture 986CABUCB4K19: CB4 Understanding the digital economy
On-site course
Maximum number of participants 40
Assignment procedure Direct assignment