Abstract
AbstractDigital platforms hold a central position in today's world economy and are said to offer a great potential for the economies and societies in the global South. Yet, to date, the scholarly literature on digital platforms has largely concentrated on business while their developmental implications remain understudied. In part, this is because digital platforms are a challenging research object due to their lack of conceptual definition, their spread across different regions and industries, and their intertwined nature with institutions, actors and digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate in information systems and ICT4D research to understand what digital platforms mean for development. To do so, we first define what digital platforms are and differentiate between transaction and innovation platforms, and explain their key characteristics in terms of purpose, research foundations, material properties and business models. We add the socio‐technical context digital platforms operate and the linkages to developmental outcomes. We then conduct an extensive review to explore what current areas, developmental goals, tensions and issues emerge in the literature on platforms and development and identify relevant gaps in our knowledge. We later elaborate on six research questions to advance the studies on digital platforms for development: on indigenous innovation, digital platforms and institutions, on exacerbation of inequalities, on alternative forms of value, on the dark side of platforms and on the applicability of the platform typology for development.
Highlights
Digital platforms hold a central position in the business models of the largest companies in the world, transforming traditional roles in areas like employment, productivity and innovation activities
The purpose of this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate in information systems and ICT4D research to understand what digital platforms mean for development
Practitioners and scholars acknowledge their significance for societies in the global South (David-West & Evans, 2015; Nielsen, 2017; Walsham, 2017), but it is less obvious in what ways digital platforms can trigger specific positive effects for development
Summary
Digital platforms hold a central position in the business models of the largest companies in the world, transforming traditional roles in areas like employment, productivity and innovation activities. If adding the three other platform leaders, Facebook, Tencent and Alibaba, these seven companies represented close to $5 trillion in market value and were reported to account for two-thirds of the total market value of the world's 70 largest digital platforms in 2018 (UNCTAD, 2019). Most of these platforms have their origins in the global North and China, digital platforms are becoming important players in the global South due to increased access to devices and connectivity in these regions, with new platform companies being established there. Despite the fact that these digital platform giants have generated enormous wealth in record time, that wealth has been concentrated around a small number of companies and countries, giving rise to concerns on the developmental effects these new technologies may have for the global South
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