Lisen Selander

Capability search and redeem across digital ecosystems

Prior research on digital ecosystems focuses on the focal firm (e.g., a platform owner) and its ecosystem governance. However, there is a dearth of literature examining the non-focal actor, that is, an ecosystem participant who is at the periphery of a digital ecosystem. This paper proposes a theoretical perspective of the non-focal firms participation across digital ecosystems for cultivating its innovation habitat through capability search and redeem. Capability search involves the location of external capability deemed valuable for extending the firms innovation habitat. Capability redeem refers to the firms use of external capability to develop, distribute, and/or monetize its products and services. We generate and sensitize the proposed perspective in the context of Sony Ericssons innovation habitat by interpreting the mobile device manufacturers participation across four digital ecosystems (Visual Basic, Java, Digital Music, and Android). Our findings suggest that the non-focal actor cannot rely on a single ecosystem for addressing all relevant layers of innovation. It benefits from pursuing a pluralistic strategy, operating across digital ecosystems to avoid investing all efforts in the same ecosystem. The model of ecosystem capability search and redeem, which is a result of ideographic research explanation, extends current perspectives on digital ecosystems and contributes to the emerging literature in the digital age.

Digital action repertoires and transforming a social movement organization

An emerging research agenda focuses on social media’s influence on political activism. Specific attention has recently been paid to digital social movement organizing and action repertoire development. The literature acknowledges the changing face of activism at the movement level, but little is known about the relationship between social movement organizations (SMOs) and digital action repertoires. Understanding this relationship is critical because strong adherence to values is at the heart of establishing action repertoires with legitimacy and persistence. In this paper, we rely on a two-year longitudinal study of the Swedish affiliate of Amnesty International. We examine the transformation in engagement and interaction that followed the organization’s introduction of new action repertoires. Drawing on resource mobilization theory and the collective action space model, we elaborate how new action repertoires both stabilized and challenged the values of the SMO, as well as gradually broadened the interactions of supporters and deepened their modes of engagement. We offer a value-based model on the antecedents and effects of new action repertoires from the SMO perspective. The empirical findings and the model build new theory on social media and digital activism at the organizational level, complementing the predominant movement level research in the extant literature.

Algorithmic Agency in Information Systems: Research Opportunities for Data Analytics of Digital Traces

The complex networks of today involve algorithms, humans, machines, and tools. As a consequence of their digital and sociotechnical nature, they increasingly exhibit autonomous and intelligent characteristics. This development puts prevailing assumptions about information systems at stake. In this paper, we specifically engage with a radical reframing of past conceptualizations of machine intelligence or agency. Based on our theorizing, we advance and substantiate a novel algorithmic agency perspective that centers around three key characteristics: algorithmic interpretation, data generativity, and input translation. These characteristics pave the way for a new wave of research in information systems. Our proposed research opportunities for data analytics of digital traces address conditions for, features of, and approaches to algorithmic agency.