Transformation and Sustainability of Digital Platforms and Ecosystems: A Multidisciplinary Exploration

ABSTRACT

This special issue focuses on the dynamics of digital platforms and ecosystems and the critical aspects of transformation and sustainability. Digital ecosystems, characterized as technology-enabled communities, have garnered significant attention across various disciplines, including biology, engineering, management, and organization studies. This editorial provides an overview of the current understanding of digital ecosystems, emphasizing the complex interplay between individual, organizational, and networked entities. Despite abundant research on digital ecosystems, questions regarding the functioning, governance, development, growth, and members’ relationships persist. We believe these underexplored questions have direct implications for electronic commerce (e-commerce). This connection underscores the relevance of the issue’s insights for advancing the field of electronic commerce, addressing relevant questions, and opening new avenues for research and practice in the digital marketplace.

KEY WORDS AND PHRASES:

• Digital platforms
• digital ecosystems
• multidisciplinary
• organizational transformation
• sustainability
• innovation
• ecosystem governance
• digital transformation
• coopetition
• emerging technologies

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roberta Cuel

Roberta cuel, Ph.D. ([email protected]; corresponding author), is an associate professor of business organization and human resource management at the Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Italy. She teaches organizational behavior and human resource management, knowledge management, information systems, and service science courses. Dr. Cuel is President of the Committee for Equal Opportunities, Well-being at Work, and Against Discriminations (CUG) of the University of Trento, and coordinates the European Master in Business Studies (EMBS), a joint initiative among four European universities. She has been a visiting professor at the Karlsruhe Service Research Institute of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, and Kassel University, Germany. Dr. Cuel’s research explores the interplay between technology and organizational structures, focusing on human behaviors and knowledge, digital transformation, and the evolving nature of work in the digital era. She is the author of numerous publications on corporate knowledge management, sociotechnical systems, ecosystems, and the impact of technology on work, routines and practices, teams, and communities.

Federica Ceci

Federica ceci, Ph.D. ([email protected]), is a full professor at the University G.d’Annunzio, an adjunct professor at LUISS Guido Carli University, both in Italy, and a visiting professor at the University of Sussex (UK). She coordinates the Ph.D. program in accounting, business, and business economics at the University G.d’Annunzio. Dr. Ceci teaches digital innovation and organization in the undergraduate program, corporate and university master courses, and in Ph.D. programs. Her research interests focus on the theory of the firm, management of innovation, the role of personal relationships and cultural values in enabling and diffusing innovation, the analysis of managerial implications of digitalization of organizational process, the dynamics and organizational characteristics of the deep web, and innovation in data ecosystems. She is the author of numerous publications in such journals as Research Policy, European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Frontiers, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of International Management, and Industry & Innovation.

Ilias Pappas

Ilias o. pappas ([email protected]) is a professor of information systems in the Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Department of Information Systems, University of Agder, Norway. His current research activities are within the area of human-centered AI. Dr. Pappas has been actively working in the areas of data science and digital transformation, social innovation and social change, user experience in different contexts, digital marketing, e-services, and information technology adoption. He has a key interest in fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) applications. He has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including the European Journal of Information Systems, Human Relations, British Journal of Management, European Journal of Marketing, Information & Management, Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, International Journal of Information Management, and Journal of Systems and Software. Dr. Pappas has been a guest editor for multiple journals, an associate editor for several information systems journals, and is an ERCIM “Alain Bensoussan” and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow.

P. K. Senyo

P. K. Senyo ([email protected]) is an associate professor in fintech and information systems at the Department of Decision Analytics and Risk, Southampton Business School. Dr. Senyo’s main research interests include fintech, artificial intelligence, platform ecosystems, and digital transformation. His research has been published in such journals as European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, and British Journal of Management. He is an associate editor for European Journal of Information Systems and a senior editor for Information Technology and People.