Building Trust in Business Ecosystems: The Interplay of Technology and Community in Governing Data Sharing

Data sharing remains one of the biggest challenges for emerging industrial ecosystems. Lack of trust, and perceived risks are holding companies back, as no one wants to go first and get it wrong. At the core of this challenge is a lack of understanding how data sharing could, and should be governed in business ecosystems. Despite growing scholarly interest in data sharing and data markets, research on the governance mechanisms of data sharing is scarce. In this paper, we analyze the governance of data sharing in two emerging business ecosystems. Based on our findings, we elaborate on the complementary role of community- and technology-based governance mechanisms. We discuss our findings in light of emerging industry 4.0 business ecosystems.