Addressing Conceptual Randomness in IoT-Driven Business Ecosystem Research.

Fabien Rezac

doi:10.3390/s20205842

Abstract

During the almost 27 years of its existence, the business ecosystem research has developed a substantial level of ambiguity and multifacetedness. Because to the technological advancements that promote interconnectedness and value co-creation, the field has consequently spun off into more domain-specific branches, such as the arena of digital business ecosystems that are driven by Internet of Things (IoT). Nonetheless, despite the efforts to mend the theoretical foundations and to close the gap between academia and empirical practice, the absolute majority of IoT-driven digital business ecosystem literature follows the trend of conceptual randomness while expanding the volume of publications exponentially. Therefore, in order to address this unfavourable increase in random adoption of distinct concepts that ultimately refer to the same subject matter, the author encourages other scholars involved in the research field of IoT-driven digital business ecosystems to make extended efforts and support the external validity of their research (as well as the relevance of the research stream as a whole) by bounding the IoT-driven digital business ecosystems on a rigorous basis through deploying the extant theory in a careful and appropriate manner. Via a thorough examination of the theoretical fundaments that underpin the concept of IoT-driven digital business ecosystem, and based on a concise thematic review of corresponding literature published until September 2020, this article articulates logic for viewing the conceptual hierarchy within the business ecosystem research and proposes six literature-based recommendations for developing further IoT-driven digital business ecosystem (DBE) research in a rigorous way.

Highlights

Introduction270 years before the first electronic large-scale general-purpose digital computer entered the public domain [2], this article is considered by many to be the earliest antecedent of what is commonly labelled as digitalization, i.e., “the innovation of business models and processes that exploit digital opportunities” [3]
Based on the fragmented understanding of business ecosystems (BE) and digital business ecosystem (DBE), it can be presumed that their core drawbacks that are presented in previous sections are transferred on the studies that build on these concepts and put them in the context of Internet of Things (IoT)
All 155 documents were subjected to the conceptual scanning, the author decided to only present the particularities of the first 20 in order not to congest the article with unnecessary details

Summary

Introduction

270 years before the first electronic large-scale general-purpose digital computer entered the public domain [2], this article is considered by many to be the earliest antecedent of what is commonly labelled as digitalization, i.e., “the innovation of business models and processes that exploit digital opportunities” [3]. Whether perceived as an overused buzzword or dogmatically praised as a condition to survive among the fittest, leveraging digitized data for the improvement of business processes has become a key success catalyst for many organizations and an invincible hurdle for others. Nowadays companies are in the position of having a chance to seize the vast opportunities of digital business development, such as seizing increased efficiency or adopting new business models [4].

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