Exploring design elements of personal data markets

Abstract

Since the emerging information economy relies heavily on data for advancement and growth, data markets have gained increasing attention. However, while global data economies are evolving and data are increasingly shared among organizations in various data ecosystems, marketplaces for personal data (PDMs) exhibited considerable start-up difficulties, which doomed their majority to either fail quickly or to operate in legal grey zones. Apparently, in recent times, novel PDMs have arisen which seem economically and technically viable. The study investigates this “new generation” from both an economic and a technological perspective. Adhering to a rigorous methodology for taxonomy building and evaluation, 18 dimensions and 59 characteristics are presented alongside which these new PDMs can be designed. Additionally, archetypes are derived. The findings reveal that PDMs tend to follow certain design commonalities holding for data markets generally but comprise specific design elements distinguishing them both from conventional data markets and among each other.