Abstract

This paper explores the evolving role of digital technologies in standardisation processes. Traditionally, industry standards were developed through structured, rule-based processes facilitated by governing bodies, with digital technologies playing a supportive role. However, as industry standards become embedded in digital infrastructures, digital technologies are actively transforming how standards are developed, maintained, and implemented. The study draws upon the operand-operant resource distinction to argue that digital technologies have expanded from supporting and enabling standardisation processes to actively shaping standardisation, transforming both processes and their outcomes: the standards. This shift contributes to IS research by empirically demonstrating the expanding role of digital technologies from enablers to active to transformative agents in standardisation. The research further explores whether this shift signifies a transition from traditional standardisation to standardisation as a platform governance regime, where digital platforms increasingly define and enforce their own proprietary standards. The analysis highlights regulatory fragmentation, governance clashes, and the emergence of digital standardisation platforms, emphasising the need to rethink standardisation as a dynamic, platform-driven process.

Download

Share

COinS