Paper Number
ECIS2026-2299
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
Data ecosystems promise value creation by enabling actors to share and use data across organiza-tional boundaries. Yet many struggle, as actors withdraw engagement, undermining collaboration in the ecosystem. Prior research has predominantly examined how actors engage in data activities, while treating disengagement as a discrete event eroding ecosystem value creation. We challenge this view by characterizing disengagement as a multifaceted, data-embedded process, through which ecosystem value creation is continuously reconfigured. Drawing on a five-year case study of a national data ecosystem involving 37 hospitals, we identify four specific disengagement process-es – pre-emptive, peripheral, isolative, and substitutive disengagement. Contrary to dominant as-sumptions, we find that disengagement can also facilitate rather than just erode value creation. Our study advances IS research by theorizing disengagement as a constitutive element of data eco-system evolution. Data ecosystems endure not only through continuous engagement, but through the interplay between engagement and disengagement.
Recommended Citation
Nienstedt, Jonas; Greve, Maike; Kolbe, Lutz M.; and Trenz, Manuel, "The Ambivalent Role Of Actor Disengagement For Value Creation In Data Ecosystems" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 13.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/datasc_isresearch/datasc_isresearch/13
The Ambivalent Role Of Actor Disengagement For Value Creation In Data Ecosystems
Data ecosystems promise value creation by enabling actors to share and use data across organiza-tional boundaries. Yet many struggle, as actors withdraw engagement, undermining collaboration in the ecosystem. Prior research has predominantly examined how actors engage in data activities, while treating disengagement as a discrete event eroding ecosystem value creation. We challenge this view by characterizing disengagement as a multifaceted, data-embedded process, through which ecosystem value creation is continuously reconfigured. Drawing on a five-year case study of a national data ecosystem involving 37 hospitals, we identify four specific disengagement process-es – pre-emptive, peripheral, isolative, and substitutive disengagement. Contrary to dominant as-sumptions, we find that disengagement can also facilitate rather than just erode value creation. Our study advances IS research by theorizing disengagement as a constitutive element of data eco-system evolution. Data ecosystems endure not only through continuous engagement, but through the interplay between engagement and disengagement.