We investigate the effects of standardisation as a means of direct control on digital platform innovation. Specifically, we study the standardisation of parameters and procedures implemented in the web editing API on the popular geodata platform, OpenStreetMap. Using a regression-based approach to interrupted time series analysis, we assess the quantity and quality of new content generated on the platform before and after the standardisation. We find that the intervention had positive and negative effects on the generation of platform content on OpenStreetMap, which we summarise in three different effects (control, simplification, spill-over). Through the control effect, standardisation decreases the generation of content in quantity by enforcing conformity and reducing complementor’s freedom in producing certain outcomes. Through the simplification effect, standardisation increases the generation of new content in quantity by simplifying and streamlining the production of certain outcomes. Lastly, through the spill-over effect, standardisation increases the generation of content in quality and new areas of the platform by improving the compatibility and interoperability of content. Framing these findings through the rich body of work on standardisation and innovation in the technology management literature, we engage a long-standing tension in research on digital platforms – the balance between control and innovation. We discuss the prospect of standardisation as one way to directly control the balance between desirable and undesirable variation necessary for platforms to innovate, as it restricts some activities while enabling others.
Wessel, Michael; José Schmidt-Kessen, Maria & Hukal, Philipp (2024)
Regulating short-term rental platforms: the effects of local regulatory responses on Airbnb’s operations in Europe
Many digital platforms offer services that affect real-world socio-economic processes. One example is the impact of short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb or Wimdu on cities and neighborhoods. Because these platforms often operate in a regulatory void characterized by absent, unclear, or poorly enforced laws and regulations, local governments in affected cities have begun experimenting with a variety of instruments to regulate the operations of short-term rental platforms. In this paper, we report how such locally implemented regulatory responses have affected Airbnb’s operations across 13 European cities over the period from 2015 to 2019. Using a difference-in-difference specification with synthetic controls, we assess the impact of different regulatory responses by disaggregating them into motivations, actions, targets, and outcomes. We find that the effectiveness of regulatory responses differs by type of regulation (restricting or clarifying), type of host (professional or private), as well as the enforcement (with or without the cooperation of the platform operator). Through this work, we add to the ongoing debate on the regulation of digital platforms by presenting both empirical evidence as well as an analytical framework.
Ens, Nicola; Hukal, Philipp & Jensen, Tina Belgind (2023)
Digital platforms are supraorganizational entities that use digital technology to facilitate interactions between diverse actors, leading to novel forms of organisation and accompanying forms of control. The current Information Systems (IS) literature, however, struggles to describe control on digital platforms in a way that does justice to the dynamic character of the phenomenon. Taking this as an opportunity, we follow the enactment of control over time and across parties in a hybrid ethnographic study of the social commerce platform Poshmark. Specifically, we conceptualise the dynamics of control as changes in the means of control—formal or informal—and the sources of control—operator or participants—over time. Tracking these conceptual dimensions, we identify the distinct ways control has changed on Poshmark. Synthesising these findings into four dynamics of control, we show that control on digital platforms is rarely static due to aggregate effects arising from the operator and from participant interactions with each other through the digital features deployed on the platform. Based on these insights, our study contributes to the IS literature on control by broadening the conception of control on digital platforms. The theoretical and practical insights generated in this paper thereby lay the foundation for the systematic study of the dynamics of control that are unique to platform environments.
Hukal, Philipp; Henfridsson, Ola, Shaikh, Maha & Parker, Geoffrey (2020)
Platform Signaling for Generating Platform Content