Jason Bennett Thatcher’s research while affiliated with University of Manchester and other places

This research investigates the interplay of top-down control and bottom-up self-organization within Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPEs), focusing on the formation and management of complementor coalitions. Although these coalitions can increase a DPE’s generativity, they can also threaten its integrity. We investigate this tension by employing Information Ecology (IE) theory, which allows us to examine complementor coalitions as holons that navigate between self-assertiveness and integration within the structural hierarchies of DPEs. Utilizing an inductive, embedded case study approach, we analyze the interplay between top-down control exerted by platform owners and the bottom-up self-organization of complementors in two enterprise software platform ecosystems. Our findings identify three distinct interaction modes—mandated, supported, and autonomous self-organization—each presenting hierarchical trade-offs between platform owner control and complementor autonomy. Our findings extend the prevalent owner-centric theory of platform governance by highlighting the significant impact of bottom-up self-organization on the governance and evolution of DPEs. We propose an integrated theory that accommodates these new dynamics, suggesting soft power as an effective governance mechanism. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities in governing DPEs and offers practical insights for managing top-down control and bottom-up self-organization in the evolving landscape of enterprise software DPEs.

Social media platforms use content moderation practices to prevent or contain the dissemination of harmful content online. These practices can be initiated by the user (e.g. reporting, blocking) or by the platform (e.g. content or account removal, visibility reduction) and can be carried out overtly or covertly (i.e., with or without notifying users). This paper examines the unknown implications of platform-initiated covert moderation methods, specifically shadowbanning, on SM user behavior, experience, and perceptions. We apply moral intuition theory to investigate how other users perceive and respond to users who claim to be shadowbanned, as well as to platforms that shadowban users.

Understanding how technostressors lead to technostrain, such as high job burnout or low job performance, has become a core question in information systems (IS) research and practice. To unpack this relationship, we build on general systems theory to argue that the next step for technostress research is to go beyond examining the independent influences of technostressors and discuss how their interdependencies lead to technostrain. To illustrate our argument empirically, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and identify four configurations of high- and low-intensity technostressors that lead to high job burnout and one that leads to low job performance. We show that three types of interdependencies among technostressors, i.e., complementarity, contingency, and substitution, form configurations that lead to technostrain. Within these configurations, high-intensity technostressors can mutually enhance their effects and low-intensity technostressors can buffer the impact of other high-intensity technostressors on technostrain. The results help to explain why organizational interventions that address independent technostressors may fail if they do not account for the interdependencies among technostressors. Our work provides evidence of the need to further develop theories that explain how and why interdependencies among technostressors lead to technostrain.

In this paper, we mobilise new frontiers in digital transformation (DT) research by deconstructing the literature's underlying assumptions and analysing their correspondence with current theory. To do so, we conduct a problematization review across the fields of IS, strategy and entrepreneurship, organisation theory and management studies, to capture the multidimensionality of DT research. Unlike systematic literature reviews commonly found in DT research, a problematization review critically questions how theoretical contributions have been constructed in past research to develop novel theoretical questions. Our findings offer three contributions. First, we uncover five research trajectories, each with its own in‐house assumptions about the nature of digital technologies and how organisations, groups and individuals interact with those technologies and the data they generate. Second, we show how individual studies within the identified research trajectories position themselves against prior research, pointing at six distinct processes of constructing theoretical contributions. Finally, we mobilise new frontiers of research by questioning DT research field assumptions that cut across the five research trajectories. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of our problematization review for further DT research.

The Metaverse, an evolving concept that fuses physical reality with digital virtuality, offers a dynamic environment for exploration. This paper reports the panel discussion on the Metaverse and its potential implications for individuals and research. This discussion was held at the Digitization of the Individual (DOTI) workshop at the International Conference on Information Systems in December 2022. Four scientists who have researched virtual reality, immersiveness, and corresponding user behavior were invited to the panel discussion. The panelists offered their perspectives on the unique characteristics of the Metaverse, how it differs from earlier digital worlds, and the implications that the Metaverse will bring for individuals. This paper provides an introduction to the emerging phenomenon of “Metaverse” and summarizes the discussion and expert perspectives on the topic. Furthermore, this paper links the discussion to the ongoing discourse in the literature, setting the stage for further investigations by providing explicit research avenues and questions.