Digital Innovation, Entrepreneurship and New Business Models

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Paper Type

Short

Paper Number

2574

Description

Digital ecosystems are usually conceptualized around a focal platform orchestrating the contribution of third parties. Such theorizations cannot adequately account for the dynamic and emergent nature of ecosystems, resulting from intricate and transient interconnections. To this aim, we propose opening the black-box of interfaces and outlining their role in infrastructuring digital ecosystems and configuring relationships of value creation. We present the results of an empirical research exploring the role of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in the fluid and emergent dynamics of the online travel ecosystem. We reveal how the ongoing and manifold processes of interfacing result, over time, in the changing position of actors and emergence of new ones, and of their multiple and relative roles within the ecosystem. We contribute to the IS literature on digital innovation by showing how value creation and innovation in ecosystems is much more fluid, dynamic and multifarious than a platform-centric approach would suggest.

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Dec 14th, 12:00 AM

Interfaces and the Dynamics of Digital Ecosystems: A Study of the Online Travel Ecosystem

Digital ecosystems are usually conceptualized around a focal platform orchestrating the contribution of third parties. Such theorizations cannot adequately account for the dynamic and emergent nature of ecosystems, resulting from intricate and transient interconnections. To this aim, we propose opening the black-box of interfaces and outlining their role in infrastructuring digital ecosystems and configuring relationships of value creation. We present the results of an empirical research exploring the role of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in the fluid and emergent dynamics of the online travel ecosystem. We reveal how the ongoing and manifold processes of interfacing result, over time, in the changing position of actors and emergence of new ones, and of their multiple and relative roles within the ecosystem. We contribute to the IS literature on digital innovation by showing how value creation and innovation in ecosystems is much more fluid, dynamic and multifarious than a platform-centric approach would suggest.

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