Platform Companies Research Articles

Dependence and precarity in the platform economy.

The rapid growth of Uber and analogous platform companies has led to considerable scholarly interest in the phenomenon of platform labor. Scholars have taken two main approaches to explaining outcomes for platform work—precarity, which focuses on employment classification and insecure labor, and technological control via algorithms. Both predict that workers will have relatively common experiences. On the basis of 112 in-depth interviews with workers on seven platforms (Airbnb, TaskRabbit, Turo, Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and Favor) we find heterogeneity of experiences across and within platforms. We argue that because platform labor is weakly institutionalized, worker satisfaction, autonomy, and earnings vary significantly across and within platforms, suggesting dominant interpretations are insufficient. We find that the extent to which workers are dependent on platform income to pay basic expenses rather than working for supplemental income explains the variation in outcomes, with supplemental earners being more satisfied and higher-earning. This suggests platforms are free-riding on conventional employers. We also find that platforms are hierarchically ordered, in terms of what providers can earn, conditions of work, and their ability to produce satisfied workers. Our findings suggest the need for a new analytic approach to platforms, which emphasizes labor force diversity, connections to conventional labor markets, and worker dependence.

Does piracy lead to product abandonment or stimulate new product development?: Evidence from mobile platform‐based developer firms

AbstractResearch SummaryWith the growth of digital platforms, understanding the role of property rights on those platforms has become increasingly important. Digital piracy, the unauthorized copying and distribution of digital products, is therefore an important strategic issue, both because of lost revenues and because it is thought to decrease innovation. Yet, while the latter effect is often argued, empirical evidence is limited. We study whether piracy affects innovation and whether it leads firms to shift to different types of innovations. By studying a large piracy event in a mobile app marketplace, we find that piracy leads to a decrease in the release of incremental innovations, such as bug fixes, but does not decrease more substantial revisions. Additionally, it is associated with subsequent new product development.Managerial AbstractFor many platform companies, a critical issue is understanding how piracy and imitation should be regulated, motivated in part by a common narrative that piracy will eliminate innovation on these platforms. The present article suggests that these effects are slightly more nuanced. We find that piracy does lead to a decline in incremental innovations, such as bug fixes or appearance tweaks, but no discernible decline in more major innovations, such as feature updates or entirely new versions. This implies that piracy can shape the type of innovation, potentially leading to products that are less polished and refined but not affecting the overall level of innovation.

Free contents vs. inconvenience costs: Two faces of online video advertising

With the growth of online video platforms such as YouTube and Netflix, not only the video content market, but also the online video advertising market are growing rapidly. However, as the video content industry expands, the inconvenience caused by video advertisements is increasing, leading to ad-blocking by consumers. To identify the causes of ad-blocking, this study collects consumer preference data using a conjoint survey and estimates the inconvenience cost of advertisements using a mixed logit model. In addition, we performed computational experiments by changing advertising attributes to identify strategies for increasing the market share of online video platform companies. Our results show that the use of personal information affects consumers most seriously, and that platforms can increase market share by reducing the length of advertisements, by reducing the use of personal information, or by blocking all advertising.

Political Communication and Public Opinion

It is a remarkable time to be a scholar of public opinion and political communication. Not only has the political media environment been fundamentally transformed in the past 20 years, but the rate of ongoing transformation shows no sign of slowing. Digital platforms like Facebook (and its subsidiaries such as Instagram and WhatsApp) are increasingly powerful curators of news and political content. Algorithms designed by platform companies enable high levels of personalization and fragmentation of media audiences; platform-initiated changes to algorithms and newsfeed features can open, or close, the floodgates of visitors to news media websites; the social actions of digital media...

Spreading (Dis)Trust: Covid-19 Misinformation and Government Intervention in Italy

The commentary focuses on the spread of Covid-19 misinformation in Italy, highlighting the dynamics that have impacted on its pandemic communication. Italy has recently been affected by a progressive erosion of trust in public institutions and a general state of information crisis regarding matters of health and science. In this context, the politicization of health issues and a growing use of social media to confront the Coronavirus “infodemic” have led the Italian Ministry of Health to play a strategic role in using its official Facebook page to mitigate the spread of misinformation and to offer updates to online publics. Despite this prompt intervention, which increased the visibility and reliability of public health communication, coordinated efforts involving different institutions, media and digital platform companies still seem necessary to reduce the impact of misinformation, as using a multichannel strategy helps avoid increasing social and technological disparities at a time of crisis.

Do not allow pop-up ads to appear too early: Internet users’ browsing behaviour to pop-up ads

ABSTRACT This study examines the timing of pop-up advertising appearance and its effect on perceived intrusiveness, advertising irritation and advertising avoidance. Experiment was designed to build a virtual Internet environment (including the main content on the webpage and a pop-up ad) and to manipulate the timing of the pop-up advertising appearance. Participants were invited to participate in two experiments, and then assigned to a specific target browsing task; their advertising browsing activities during the task were measured. In order to measure their cognitive advertising avoidance, an eye-tracking device was utilised to gain objective and accurate psychological information. Results showed that earlier pop-up advertising appearances are associated with a lower consumer fixation count and fixation length; in contrast, pop-up advertising that appears later is associated with a higher fixation count and fixation length. This study attempts to gain more objective and accurate psychological data by using an eye-tracking device to collect information about eye movements associated with the appearance of pop-up advertising to better analyse consumer behaviours towards them. These results offer insights to Internet advertisers and Internet platform companies on how to provide more efficient Internet advertising.

Does the room sharing business model disrupt housing markets? Empirical evidence of Airbnb in Taiwan

Recent research interest has focused on the impact of the room sharing business model on housing markets. However, existing empirical evidence is limited and exclusively focuses on few large cities in the U.S. This study examines the effects of Airbnb on housing rental and sales prices using a unique large-scale dataset comprised of housing market transaction records and the number of Airbnb listings drawn from their website in Taiwan. We estimate a fixed effect model of housing rental and sales price equations and find that a one-standard deviation increase in the number of Airbnb listings raises house rental prices by 0.38%. This finding suggests that a substitution effect is present between Airbnb's short-term accommodation and the housing rental market. Moreover, a larger effect on rental price is found among Airbnb listings that offer an entire room or apartment. Additionally, since September 2017, multinational digital platform companies must comply with a new sales tax policy in Taiwan. We evaluate the effect of this tax policy using the difference-in-difference method and find a negative impact on the number of Airbnb listings and housing rental prices after its implementation. This study is the first to empirically assess the effectiveness of tax policy on regulating room sharing business models.

Google LLC v. Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) and Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v. Facebook Ireland Ltd. (C.J.E.U.)

During the fall of 2019, the European Court of Justice (hereinafter the ECJ or the Court) delivered judgments in two cases addressing the responsibility of internet platform companies for the personal information they control. In Google LLC v. Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), the ECJ considered the geographic scope of its notable recent jurisprudence on the obligations of search engines to implement the “right to be forgotten” set forth in European Union (EU) data protection law. In Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v. Facebook Ireland Limited, the Court examined whether Facebook was obliged under EU law to remove information available on the social network that previously had been found under Austrian law to defame an Austrian politician.

How do search ads induce and accelerate conversion? The moderating role of transaction experience and organizational type

This study examines how paid search advertising affects conversion probability and selling duration on e-marketplace platforms, as well as how these effects are moderated by two advertiser characteristics: transaction experience (regular vis-à-vis new) and organizational type (business vis-à-vis individual). We develop a model that includes both conversion incidence and selling duration, thus accounting for the correlation between the variables. The proposed model is calibrated using data on one million randomly selected used cars traded in an online marketplace. The results reveal that search ads increase conversion probability significantly, by a remarkable 65.26%, and shorten selling duration by 3.51 days, on average. The effect on conversion probability is greater for new (individual) advertisers than it is for their regular (business) counterparts. By contrast, the shortened selling duration is more pronounced for regular (individual) advertisers than it is for new (business) advertisers. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for marketplace sellers and platform companies.

Virtual vs physical platform: organizational capacity and slack, strategic decision and firm performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between organizational capacity, slack resource, platform strategic choice and firm performance. It also tackles the endogenous issues regarding the strategic choice of platform types.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses Heckman’s two-stage procedures to examine the relationship between the variables. The sample in this study comes from Compustat annual company and segment files. The sample used in the main analysis consists of 252 individual corporations globally and 3,528 firm-year observations from 2004–2017.FindingsThe empirical results suggest that: (1) firms are more likely to develop physical platforms than virtual platforms when they possess higher levels of available slack, potential slack, research and development (R&D) capacity and marketing capacity; (2) in general, firms developing physical platforms perform better than firms developing virtual platforms after the endogeneity bias are controlled; and (3) firms that choose to develop physical platforms perform better than if they had chosen to develop virtual platforms.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the platform research literature by proposing the endogenous role of platform type choice in firm performance in the context of the retail industry. Prior conceptual and theoretical platform studies have seldom focused on the retail industry through a strategic choice perspective. Furthermore, one of the contributions of this study is the derivation of empirical support for the research’s prediction using data from actual firms carried out by global physical and virtual platform companies. This study also presents many opportunities for further explorations on the relationship between firm strategic choice and firm performance in the context of platform retail industry.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study suggest that firms must realize that their performance is not necessarily affected by these platform type choice determinants in terms of potential slack, available slack, R&D capacity and marketing capacity. By contrast, they should pay more attention to developing physical platforms if it is possible. The study findings indicate that although virtual platforms have grown rapidly because of the development of technology, firm performance is at all times superior when firms choose to develop physical platforms.Originality/valuePrior platform studies have focused on the topic of network structure, platform architecture, pricing strategy, platform leadership and platform design and governance within the context of video game industry, software industry, hardware industry and telecommunications industry. Seldom of them focus on other industries through a strategic choice perspective. Furthermore, one of the contributions of this study is the derivation of empirical support for the research’s prediction using data from actual firms carried out by global physical and virtual platform companies.

Dynamic Evolution of Safety Regulation of the Ridesharing Industry under Social Media Participation

The emergence of ridesharing has spread against the background of the sharing economy. There have been a lot of controversies since the emergence of ridesharing, particularly regarding regulatory issues. The safety regulation of the ridesharing industry involves many parties, including governments, platform companies, and society at large. Currently, because of the influence of information asymmetry, it increases the uncertainty of governments’ regulation effect and the difficulty of making regulation measures. Meanwhile, social media, one of the most important forces of social regulation, has not paid enough attention to playing an appropriate role in the safety regulation of the ridesharing industry. Therefore, this study constructs an evolutionary game model between governments and platform companies that concerns the safety regulations of ridesharing passengers under social media participation. The influence path of social media is explored by model solution and numerical simulation. Our results indicate that social media participation has a positive impact on this safety regulation. Specifically, social media participation could reduce governments’ regulatory costs and encourage it to strictly regulate. The exposure of social media could bring losses to platform companies involved and promote platform companies’ investments in improving passengers’ safety. This study provides a decision basis for governments to introduce social media in the safety regulation of the ridesharing industry.

Stickiness: An Unspoken Chapter in the Gig World

Gig economy is very attractive due to its alluring factors of flexibility, control work–life balance and entrepreneurial activities, but is it enough to bring them back to the same platform companies. Stickiness and gig economy are opposites as stickiness defies the core principle of gig economy, which is temporariness. But stickiness needs focus as more gig workers are dependent on it as a steady source of primary income. Companies also look at them for getting highly skilled workers at lower costs. This article delves into the factors which bring repeat business from the same gig worker to the platform company.

A Study on Platform Companies and Passenger Transport Regulations

A Study on Platform Companies and Passenger Transport Regulations

Fighting fatigue: A conceptual model of driver sleep in the gig economy

The purpose of this paper was to integrate the sleep science, occupational health, and organizational psychology literature to develop a conceptual model of driver sleep and fatigue in the gig economy. We develop an integrative framework, which proposes that aspects of the on-demand driving context influence driver sleep health and fatigue. Driver outcomes include safety incidents, injuries, health, job attitudes, interpersonal behavior, and performance. In addition, moderators, such as driver demographics and health conditions, can interact with aspects of the driver context. A number of practical implications are provided, addressing the ways in which occupational health researchers, online labor platform companies, and drivers can improve sleep health. This is the first paper to provide a broad understanding of how scientists, through both research and practice, can help improve sleep, a primary issue in the ridesharing industry.

Historicising Wanghong economy: connecting platforms through Wanghong and Wanghong incubators

ABSTRACT Wanghong, short for ‘wangluo hongren’ (Chinese for ‘people who have gone viral on the internet’), is often used as the vernacular term for influencers and microcelebrities in China, which are increasingly defined by their acute ability to convert internet viewer traffic to money with diverse economic models in its contemporary context of wanghong economy. This essay historicises the emergence of wanghong economy in which both the meanings and practices of wanghong are being produced and reproduced and it examines how wanghong economy’s developing trajectory and economic models are underpinned by the strategic expansion of major domestic platform companies. Using the leading wanghong incubator, Ruhnn Holding Limited, as a case study, this essay deconstructs the profitable model of e-commerce wanghong that is widely adopted so far as a prototype across the wanghong industry. Such value chain integrates advertising and e-commerce and it further connects two powerful platforms, Weibo and Alibaba, by facilitating a transplatform business ecosystem that benefits, and is promoted by, both companies.

The clash of empires: regulating technological threats to civil society

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the regulation of technology platform companies providing a platform for user-generated media content while playing an increasingly dominant role in the global flow of news and information. In doing so, platform companies play a crucial role in modern civic life, by deciding which content will reach users, engage the public's attention, and be deemed credible. It is therefore crucial that we choose means of regulation that foster democratic values and robust civic engagement. In this paper we focus on the regulation of ‘computational propaganda', including misinformation and ‘fake news', the rise of synthetic media and so-called ‘deep fakes', and novel forms of algorithmic injustice, such as the manipulation of search engine results and their effect on elections. We argue that many existing regulations fall short in that they adopt an approach that views regulation as a battle between two competing powers, or ‘empires’ – that of the regulatory state versus the big tech companies. Accordingly, they approach regulation as a means of redistributing power between these two players, while discounting the end user, and they often involve unjustified restrictions of free speech through the imposition of content controls.

Discipline and promote: Building infrastructure and managing algorithms in a “structured journalism” project by professional fact-checking groups

News organizations have adapted in various ways to a digital media environment dominated by algorithmic gatekeepers such as search engines and social networks. This article dissects a campaign to actively shape that environment led by professional fact-checking organizations. We trace the development of the Share the Facts “widget,” a device designed to give fact-checks greater purchase in algorithmically governed media networks by driving adoption of a new data standard called ClaimReview. We show how “structured journalism” gave journalists a language for the social and technical challenges involved, and how this infrastructural technology mediates between fact-checkers, audiences, and platform companies. We argue that this standard-setting initiative exhibits both promotional and disciplining facets, offering greater distribution and impact to journalists while also defining their work in specific ways. Crucially, in this case, this disciplining influence reflects internal professional-institutional agendas in an emerging subfield of journalism as much as the demands of platform companies.

Sceptics or supporters? Consumers’ views of work in the gig economy

Labour‐management practices and workers’ experiences in the gig economy are topics of major interest for researchers, regulators and the general public. Platform companies project a vision of gig workers as autonomous freelancers, but pervasive features of their own labour practices, along with workers’ traits, create new vulnerabilities and risks. Efforts to improve gig workers’ conditions to date have made in‐roads without achieving a general shift in platforms’ practices or gig workers’ conditions. In this paper, we explore how another, less‐recognised stakeholder group—consumers—shapes the conditions of gig work. Drawing on Australian public opinion data, we study consumers’ views of the gig economy and ask whether these will help or hinder pro‐worker campaigns. While consumers are sympathetic to gig workers’ financial plight, they also see benefits in the work’s flexibility and opportunities for jobseekers. We explain how our findings can inform advocacy campaigns and further gig economy research.

Private Equity in Ophthalmology and Optometry: Analysis of Acquisitions from 2012 through 2019 in the United States

To identify temporal and geographic trends in private equity (PE)-backed acquisitions of ophthalmology and optometry practices in the United States. A cross-sectional study using private equity acquisition and investment data from January 1, 2012, through October 20,2019. A total of 228 PE acquisitions of ophthalmology and optometry practices in the United States between 2012 and2019. Acquisition and financial investment data were compiled from 6 financial databases, 4 industry news outlets, and publicly available press releases from PE firms or platform companies. Yearly trends in ophthalmology and optometry acquisitions, including number of total acquisitions, clinical locations, and providers of acquired practices as well as subsequent sales, median holding period, geographic footprint, and financing status of each platform company. A total of 228 practices associated with 1466 clinical locations and 2146 ophthalmologists or optometrists were acquired by 29 PE-backed platform companies. Of these acquisitions, 127, 9, and 92 were comprehensive or multispecialty, retina, and optometry practices, respectively. Acquisitions increased rapidly between 2012 and 2019: 42 practices were acquired between 2012 and 2016 compared to 186 from 2017 through 2019. Financing rounds of platform companies paralleled temporal acquisition trends. Three platform companies, comprising 60% of platforms formed before 2016, were subsequently sold or recapitalized to new PE investors by the end of this study period with a median holding period of 3.5 years. In terms of geographic distribution, acquisitions occurred in 40 states with most PE firms developing multistate platform companies. New York and California were the 2 states with the greatest number of PE acquisitions with 22 and 19, respectively. Private equity-backed acquisitions of ophthalmology and optometry practices have increased rapidly since 2012, with some platform companies having already been sold or recapitalized to new investors. Additionally, private equity-backed platform companies have developed both regionally focused and multistate models of add-on acquisitions. Future research should assess the impact of PE investment on patient, provider, and practice metrics, including health outcomes, expenditures, procedural volume, and staff employment.

Развитие платформенной экономики в России: возможные негативные последствия для сибирских и дальневосточных регионов

In the national project “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” it is noted that the state will support the creation of leading platform companies. However, the project and numerous scientific comments on this project do not explain the possible socio-economic consequences of the development of the platform economy for certain groups of Russian regions. To develop regional development strategies, first of all, it is necessary to know the negative consequences. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to identify possible negative consequences of the platform economy development for the regions of the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal districts of Russia. The analysis of the global array of scientific publications on platform economics in comparison with the peculiarities of the socio-economic development of Siberia and the Far East has revealed five possible negative consequences: concentration of platform companies in the capital of Russia; polarization of the economic space; transformation of regional labour markets; increase in migration flows and chaotic spatial diffusion of innovations. Qualitative estimates were obtained for these consequences. Future products and services with ultra-low signal delay in 5G networks (Tactile Internet, holographic calls, etc.) were selected for a quantitative assessment. Calculations of the signal delay between 196 cities in Siberia and the Far East have showed that it will be possible to create six territorial digital platforms. The business ecosystems that can be created around these platforms can cover 52 cities. The rest of the cities will find themselves without access to new products and services. This will create a future digital inequality that will cover 260 times more people than the current inequality in access to 3G–4G networks. The results can be used to refine the national project