Platform Economy Research Articles

Channel structures of third-party platforms

The growing prominence of third-party (3P) platforms in the online retail sector has made the selection of an appropriate channel structure strategy a critical concern for manufacturers, 3P platforms, and retailers operating within this environment. We construct a Stackelberg game model with the manufacturer as the leader, evaluating four channel structures: (A) reselling and retailer agency selling, (B) agency selling and retailer agency selling, (C) reselling and agency selling, and (D) reselling, agency selling, and retailer agency selling. The supply chain can adopt two pricing strategies: uniform pricing (UP) and differential pricing (DP). Research indicates that expanding the number of channels may not always enhance profitability for suppliers and supply chain participants. Under strategy UP, the 3P platform opts for structure B, whereas the retailer favors structure C. Incorporating agency selling is advantageous for the manufacturer; however, structure A represents the least beneficial option for the supply chain. Under strategy DP, a substantial portion of the pareto optimal region is present. Intense competition and reduced agency fees lead both the supply chain as a whole and individual member to prefer structure A. The addition of a reselling or retailer agency channel boosts the manufacturer's profits, and benefits the 3P platform, while structure D emerges as the least favorable option for the retailer. Furthermore, under strategy DP, structure C is rendered obsolete, signifying the retailer's essential role in the supply chain to the advantage of all involved parties. Our study advances the scholarly understanding of sales models and platform economies by offering valuable insights into the decision-making processes of manufacturers, third-party (3P) platforms, and retailers regarding channel structure choices in a 3P platform environment.

Systematic Literature Review on Gig Economy: Power Dynamics, Worker Autonomy, and the Role of Social Networks

This study explores the dynamics of the collective agency among gig workers in the digital platform economy, focusing on three key research questions. First, it examines power dynamics, worker autonomy, and the role of social networks in mitigating power imbalances imposed by digital platforms. Second, it investigates how algorithmic management affects gig workers’ agency and their capacity for collective action. Lastly, it proposes directions for future research to address power imbalances and enhance worker empowerment. Using a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis of 59 scholarly articles, this study reveals that gig workers, despite the control exerted by opaque algorithms, leverage social networks to enhance their autonomy and bargaining power. These networks enable information sharing, negotiation strategies, and collective actions that challenge platform-driven power asymmetries. The study proposes a comprehensive framework illustrating the interplay of economic, technological, social, and regulatory forces affecting gig workers. These insights offer practical implications for policymakers and platform developers aiming to foster a more equitable gig economy. Future research should explore the long-term impacts on worker well-being and assess the effectiveness of regulatory interventions in addressing power imbalances.

Respect for Constitutional Rights of Individuals in Platform Economy

The paper dwells on the issue of respect for labor and social rights of individuals enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation in sectors of the economy that are partially or completely switching to activities in an economic model based on the use of digital platforms (platform economy). The strengths and weaknesses of this method of organizing activities for workers employed in the industries under consideration are elucidated in the context of both labor and civil law relations, including workers having the status of self-employed workers. The main possible reasons for the transition of economic entities to activities within the framework of the platform economy, including with a change in the nature of legal relations, are justified through a set of objective (economic and social) and subjective (related to the education, abilities and motivation of a potential employee) reasons. Avito.ru Internet platform is monitored to find job vacancies, within which ensuring the proper implementation of сonstitutional rights of citizens is possible exclusively within the framework of labor legal relations. The analysis of the conditions of employment offered by actual employers reveals typical potential and actual violations of human rights in relation to both an employee and third parties. Based on the results of the analysis of practice, the author offers a number of measures aimed at eliminating the identified prerequisites for violating the constitutional rights of citizens. In particular, the ban on attracting persons as self-employed to perform work or provide services that pose a threat of violation of their rights or the rights of third parties in the event of this activity outside the framework of labor legal relations, as well as the possibility of recognizing civil law relations between the actual employer and an individual in the status of self-employed actual labor relations.

De-centring the interface. Towards the integrated study of interfacial relations

ABSTRACT Digital interfaces have become the primary way people relate to technology. While tangible and graphical user interfaces have long attracted scholarly attention, a variety of different interfaces connect cityscapes, homes, and brains with the digital realm. These connections may be lifesaving for some and a vehicle for invasive surveillance for others. Interfaces are thus also sites where layered relations, both digital and analogue, become translated, contested, and maintained. Furthermore, interfaces lie at the heart of new forms of machine-to-machine interaction and coordination. Software interfaces such as Application Programming Interfaces, have come to play a pivotal role in shaping platform economies, or automating entire sectors such as stock trading. Despite their ubiquity and variety, interfaces are largely reduced to a user-facing device, for example, a screen or a keyboard. In this article, we endeavour to go beyond this narrow notion of the interface. Drawing on an emerging body of literature that takes interfaces as the starting point for studies of the digital, we lay the groundwork for the integrated study of interfaces that conceptualises them as processual, distributed, and constitutively political. From this perspective, we focus not on what interfaces are but what they do. This shift towards processes of interfacing expands the scope of interface studies beyond the user-machine relation and towards the body-machine and machine-to-machine relation. Ultimately, we contend that interface studies must account for the layering of these interfacial relations.

An Analysis of Players and Gaming Communities in ‘Honor of Kings’ Based on Organisational Theories and Platform Economy

An Analysis of Players and Gaming Communities in ‘Honor of Kings’ Based on Organisational Theories and Platform Economy

Governance of labour relations in the platform economy. The cooperation between YouTubers Union and IG Metall

AbstractThe article focuses on the factors that explain the emergence and accomplishments of the ‘FairTube’ campaign, which was initiated in 2019 by the YouTubers Union and the German metalworkers' union IG Metall, and was later established as a formalised German association (“Verein”). While the initial focus of the campaign was on changing the monetisation rules, which YouTube had altered very abruptly in 2017, the initiative subsequently focused on improving the working conditions of content creators. Methodologically, we deploy a mixed‐methods design that flanks media discourse network analysis through qualitative content analysis of expert interviews, which helps to identify the interaction between these established and new actors in the governance and interest representation in the digital platform economy. Our findings reveal a ‘hybrid form of governance’ that, by aligning ideologies and combining sources of power, was able to accomplish most of the goals set out by the campaign (avoiding arbitrary platform decisions, increasing transparency and communication, securing creators' income). We conclude that new forms of collective action, i.e. the coalition between “old” and “new” organizations, may mitigate particular negative consequences of the platform economy. The study seeks to contribute to a better understanding of platform work and to the concepts of power, ideas, and interests in industrial relations.

Platform Ecosystem: The Logic of Digital Business Model Innovation

This paper examines the impact of big data capability and value network reconstruction on digital business platforms ecosystem cocreation value. Furthermore, it presents a mechanism model, with business model innovation as the mediating variable. The findings of this study are of considerable importance for digital business platforms seeking to enhance their platform ecosystem co-creation value, particularly in light of their big data capability and value network reconstruction.

Critical Mass and Mature Equilibria for Two-Sided Platforms, and the Strength of the Externalities Between the Sides

Abstract Critical mass is central to the development of two-sided platforms. It is the level of participation on both sides that is required to have the platform grow on its own force to a mature equilibrium. Despite this commonly understood dynamic, a formal definition of critical mass is missing in the literature on two-sided platforms, except for a proposal by Evans and Schmalensee (2010. “Failure to Launch: Critical Mass in Platform Businesses.” Review of Network Economics 9 (4)) who defined critical mass not as a single combination of platform sizes, but as a frontier in the two-dimensional space of those levels. We set out a demand model for two-sided platforms, propose a measure for the strength of the externalities between the sides and define critical mass in terms of this externality parameter. Our definition is more in line with the way critical mass is defined for one-sided networks. We also set out the conditions that must be met for the occurrence of critical mass.

Towards an understanding of the political economy of earlychildhood education platforms. Pro Business or Pro Children?

There is a rapidly expanding and proliferating number of commercial early childhood platforms, competing for market share in what has become a crowded marketplace. Early childhood platforms provide a wide range of functions including an all-in-one digital ecosystem offering a learning management system; social media communication between educators, families and children; invoicing and payment; attendance monitoring; data tracking; individual profiling; documentation; pedagogic advice and even policy interpretation. Platforms are a sociocultural and ideological phenomenon that ‘can replace or profoundly disrupt educational systems’ (Cobo and Rivas) and hence their advent demands urgent critical thinking. However, within early years there is comparatively limited research of platforms' impacts upon families, educators and children. The aims of this colloquium are firstly to open a critical space to think about the political economy of commercial education platforms and secondly, to ask questions about platforms' impacts upon the neoliberal subjectivities of educators, families and children.

Platform Business Groups and the Omni‐Channel Transformation of Food Retailing in China

AbstractIn the past decade, China's food retail market has undergone significant restructuring driven by platform firms, enhancing omni‐channel capabilities across the sector, and bolstering the resilience of domestic retailers. These shifts have contributed to the exit of numerous international food retailers. Despite this transformation, there remains a lack of understanding regarding the economic geography of China's food retail market, especially in terms of digital platform operations. This paper aims to conceptualise two major Platform Business Groups (PBGs), Alibaba Group and Tencent‐JD.com Alliance, and investigate their respective roles in the omni‐channel transformation of Chinese food retailing. Drawing on forty semi‐structured interviews and diverse quantitative and qualitative sources, the study conceptualises two distinct PBG models shaping the market: Alibaba's ‘Integrated PBG’ and the Tencent‐JD.com Alliance's ‘Cooperative PBG’. The research explores how the two groups utilise online analytics directly through foodstore subsidiaries and indirectly by providing omni‐channel digital services to third‐party food retailers.

Navigating occupational balance and identity in the platform economy: Perspectives from immigrant workers

ABSTRACT Gig work, or platform work, refers to short-term jobs acquired through digital platforms and constitutes a growing share of Canada’s economy (Jeon et al., 2021). Compared to Canadian-born individuals, immigrants make up a higher percentage of workers in the gig economy (Statistics Canada, 2024). There is a literature gap concerning how immigrants’ engagement in the gig economy shapes their occupational identity and sense of occupational balance. This study explores the experiences of immigrants working in the gig economy to develop an understanding of gig work through a perspective centering occupational, rather than economic, perspectives that are dominant in the literature. Using an instrumental case study approach, a secondary thematic analysis of 10 qualitative interviews with immigrants currently employed in different forms of gig work in Metro Vancouver, Canada was completed. Findings highlighted three main themes. First, a balancing act illustrates ways that gig work is often balanced with other occupations in participants’ lives given the flexibility and autonomy it offers. Second, shifting identities addresses how gig work helped participants navigate shifts to their identities following their immigration. Third, beyond the dollar discusses participants’ motivations for engaging in gig work beyond the income it generates. Gig work is nuanced and people’s motivations to engage in this type of employment are diverse. As immigrants experience a shift in their occupational identity and balance a variety of occupations, they may be drawn to this form of employment due to its unique characteristics and perceived benefits given other challenges they may face during their economic integration.

Platform work and Marx's theory of value: a literature review

This article aims to investigate the academic production of platform work and its interfaces with Marx's theory of value in the field of Social and Economic Sciences. A systematic review of the international literature produced between 2009 and 2023 was carried on the Scopus database. The question of the creation of value is the most important aspect that has been identified by this research. Most of the authors affirmed that data creates value. We indicated the critics that exist on this topic. For instance, the formal and real subsumption of labor to capital and the importance that money plays in materializing value. Also, piece-rate pay was identified as an important aspect that affects workers' subjectivity to increase the creation of value. In addition, the authors explored the process of concentration and centralization of capital in the platform economy. This literature review concludes that there is still a lack of studies on platform work from a value theory perspective.

Fake It Till You Make It—A Statistical Assessment of the Proportion of Fake Reviews in Closed Reputation Systems

ABSTRACT Fake reviews have become an increasingly relevant issue in electronic commerce. Regulators and platform operators have begun to take action against fake reviews through regulation and litigation. While there has emerged an ample body of research on fake reviews in open reputation systems (i.e. where everyone can write reviews), little is known about the frequency and nature of fake reviews in closed reputation systems (i.e. where the completion of a transaction is a necessary precondition for reviewing). This article assesses the frequency of fake reviews in this particular domain of the platform economy. To do so, we draw on data from Airbnb and investigate systematic differences between first and second rating score distributions, estimating the proportion of potentially fake five-star ratings using KL-divergence. In doing so, we advance the understanding of fake reviews in closed reputation systems, offering theoretical insights into review dynamics and practical strategies for detecting fraudulent behavior using score distributions and user attributes. This shows that early-on reputation is crucial for complementors to overcome the cold-start problem, and platform operators will have to think of ways to allow them to do so (e.g. reputation imports) in order not to jeopardize the overall credibility of their reputation systems.

Impact of government’s support policy on decision-making of platform participants under ESG

Blockchain-based token platform economy is a new branch of digital platform economics. Constructing a continuous time dynamic model of token platform economy, this paper analyzes what kind of ESG policy is appropriate for the government, meanwhile the token platform participants (developers, users and speculators) make optimal investments and decisions under ESG policy. Simulation result shows neutral ESG policy is optimal. Based on the given neutral ESG policy, we have done the research on ESG investment and decision strategies for platform participants. Our research shows that the tokens selling rate and efforts of green platform (ESG score greater than 0) developers are lower than the ones of brown platform (ESG score less than 0). Consequently, when developers’ token retention is about half of the initial amount, users should invest more brown tokens. Speculators should invest brown tokens for developers’ high token retention. Green token investments of speculators and users are needed in other cases. Next, the impact of the government’s three ESG policies on the maturity or termination of the platform also been analyzed. An important conclusion occurred: the government’s aggressive or conservative ESG policy cannot make the development of the green platform better; Therefore, we suggest a neutral ESG policy which means that the government could adopt high tax incentive and high tax burden on the green and brown platform while it is not necessary to implement the extra subsidy and punishment policy on the green and brown platform

Design and implementation of an E-commerce market place

Many small businesses and start-ups are faced with the challenge of promoting their business awareness to increase their profit margin. But many of these small businesses and start-ups cannot pay for domain registration and building of a functional website of their own. Thus, e-commerce application which can be a platform for many businesses is a good solution to this. It serves as incentive for revenue generation and business expansion in addition to promoting consumer interaction, entrepreneurship, and the growth of small businesses. Therefore, this paper aimed at design and implementation of an e-commerce application for tailors. The e-commerce system can protect sensitive customer data and secure online payment system which can serve as a platform for many businesses and start-up. This will promote business awareness, give ability to reach more customers and then improve owners profit margin. This project aims to harness the power of e-commerce marketplaces to create a tailored shopping experience for a specific target audience.

Optimal Service Strategies of Online Platform Based on Purchase Behavior

In the rapidly evolving platform economy, online platforms have emerged as pivotal providers of digital services to sellers. The paper investigates how online platforms optimize service strategies based on consumers’ purchase behavior, influencing sellers’ pricing and social welfare. Using a two-period Hotelling model and a cooperative game framework, we discover that the optimal service strategies of a platform with data collecting capabilities are collaborating with two sellers to offer to extend services to new consumers in the second period, maximizing profits for all sellers and platform. Applying Shapley value analysis, we determine the platform’s equitable service charge strategies. When sellers adopt behavior-based pricing (BBP), the pricing escalates in the first period, and the platform’s optimal service strategies also enhance the pricing of sellers. However, in the second period, BBP intensifies competition, leading to generally lower pricing. Our findings suggest that optimal pricing in the second period for new consumers should increase with enhanced quality perception, which is provided by the platform’s digital services and heightened by consumers’ privacy concerns, while decreasing for regular consumers. Lastly, we offer policy recommendations, exploring optimal regulatory scenarios—limiting or not limiting data collection—to maximize social welfare or consumer surplus, and the Mathematica software is used to identify distinct optimal policy intervals.

중국 4대 직할시 온라인 플랫폼 창업자의 창업동기, 개인역량, 창업환경요인이 창업행동에 미치는 영향 : 사업기회포착의 매개효과를 중심으로

With the technological advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, traditional manufacturing industries are transitioning to platform entrepreneurship utilizing AI and robotics technology. This shift contributes to national economic growth and job creation, aligning with the “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” initiative advocated by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2015, which drives the development of the platform economy. This study empirically analyzes the impact of entrepreneurial motivation, individual competencies, and entrepreneurial environmental factors on entrepreneurial behavior, with a mediating effect of business opportunity recognition, based on data collected from 515 online platform entrepreneurs in China’s four major municipalities. Using SPSS V. 24.0 and Process Macro 4.0 for analysis, the results indicate that economic and non-economic motivations, interpersonal competencies, digital utilization competencies, entrepreneurial education, financial status evaluation, and entrepreneurial support programs positively influence entrepreneurial behavior, with business opportunity recognition playing a crucial mediating role. Among these factors, financial status evaluation emerged as the most significant variable affecting entrepreneurial behavior. This finding demonstrates that an entrepreneur's ability to identify and evaluate business opportunities significantly impacts their entrepreneurial preparation and execution. Conversely, problem-solving competencies showed no direct effect on entrepreneurial behavior nor a mediating effect through business opportunity recognition. The traditional Chinese culture emphasizing guanxi (relationships) highlights the greater importance of interpersonal competencies over problem-solving or digital utilization competencies in business success. Therefore, to promote online platform entrepreneurship, it is essential to provide systematic financial education and continuous entrepreneurial support, enable networking and interpersonal skill‘s development programs, and offer practical support measures considering the impact of entrepreneurial environmental factors such as financial status evaluation on entrepreneurial behavior.

Digitally mediated hospitality and algorithmic hostility in the platform economy: Emerging interactions across the virtual domain

The platform economy continues to draw scholarly attention. However, the human impacts and social elements of platform work remain under-researched and poorly understood. Framed by Lashley’s domains of hospitality, this article investigates where and how platform-based food delivery workers – predominantly migrants – interact with others. This involved a multi-sited ethnography including face-to-face and digital participant observation (predominantly bicycle shadowing), and semi-structured interviews with food delivery workers and key stakeholders. The findings illustrate where interactions occur within the commercial, private and social domains of hospitality. The article then documents digital interactions that transpire beyond existing domains – demonstrating the need for a new virtual domain – which accounts for exchanges at the threshold of material and virtual contexts. The article then discusses how digital, physical and embodied artefacts are used to mediate hospitality. Finally, this article introduces the concept of algorithmic hostility to demonstrate how platforms, restaurant staff, customers and others utilize digital technologies and existing social divisions to exploit contingent workers – furthering our understanding of how people interact at the human-digital frontier.

Design of Blockchain and Strategic Financing Service under the Platform Economy

The capital constrains and uncertainties in supply disruptions faced by small and medium-sized suppliers pose critical challenges for the development of e-commerce platforms. In response, platforms have begun offering direct financing (PDF) to their suppliers alongside traditional bank credit financing (BCF). Within the private (consortium) blockchain, the platform and the supplier (and the bank) achieve consensus on financial smart contract, enabling the execution of flexible contracts tailored to suppliers’ risk profile. We develop a game-theoretic model to examine the terms of smart contracts in different blockchains and further investigate the platform's optimal blockchain design. We find that PDF serves to safeguard the platform's commission income from high-interest BCF. Our analysis reveals that PDF is more likely to be provided to a risky supplier within the consortium blockchain, contrasting with outcomes observed within the private blockchain. As a result, the platform and the supplier could reach win-win, or win-lose outcomes within the private blockchain; while within the consortium blockchain, they tend to result in win-win or lose-win outcomes. Such incentive conflict could potentially hinder blockchain adoption. Our findings further provide the managerial insights guiding the platform's blockchain design: adopting consortium blockchain under moderate market potential and low or high supplier's risk, and adopting private blockchain otherwise. Furthermore, we consider the supplier's endogenous effort on reducing risk, and numerically demonstrate that blockchain may encourage or discourage the supplier's effort. Our research complements previous studies by investigating the interaction between the PDF provision and blockchain structures under uncertain supply disruption risk.

China in Africa: companies as enablers and beneficiaries? An empirical evaluation of state-business relations in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

Abstract China’s strong economic presence in Africa has resulted in an increased interdisciplinary debate. Our contribution is the incorporation of a business perspective by uncovering the prominence and role of business in China’s diplomatic Africa engagement. Our theoretical contribution by applying the state-business relations (SBR) literature is to examine whether established frameworks can be expanded by an international dimension through intergovernmental initiatives like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The paper conducts a document analysis of all declarations and Action Plans of all FOCAC conferences in the period 2000–2021, combining both a content and a thematic analysis based on an explorative and iterative coding process. Our data suggests that the prominence of businesses has increased while the scope of their activities and the number of focus sectors (especially infrastructure) has risen particularly since 2012. Companies are considered as enablers for political and economic goals in the state-driven FOCAC. We find that SBR frameworks are applicable to international contexts and propose an expanded SBR approach integrating transnational intermediary institutions like the intergovernmental FOCAC and transnational business platforms which facilitate positive state-business relations across countries and a conducive business environment.