Abstract
The recently surfaced phenomenon of Digital Public Goods (DPGs) reflects the idea of using digital technologies for social development. However, the DPG terminology, due to the presence of dual adjectives – digital and public, is subject to the concerns of ambivalent comprehension and definitional ambiguity, resulting in the lack of congruent conceptual clarity of the phenomenon. Using phenomenon-based theorizing, we address this deficit by providing an ontology-driven theoretical explanation of the role of digital and public in the DPGs, along with their distinguishing public aspects. We find that DPGs are digital by structure and public by function. The public aspects comprise public spirit, problem/opportunity, participation, access, and value. We synthesize and present these findings as a DPG framework and derive the DPG definition from it. Further, we extrapolate the framework to deduce novel insights on DPG creation, consumption, and public spirit. We conclude with a discussion, contributions, and implications.
Recommended Citation
Rathi, Manisha and Banerjee, Shankhadeep, "Theorizing the Phenomenon of Digital Public Goods (DPGs)" (2025). ACIS 2025 Proceedings. 253.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2025/253