TY - GEN
T1 - A multi-level perspective on digital platform implementation and impact
T2 - 15th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, ICT4D 2019
AU - Gomez-Morantes, Juan Erasmo
AU - Heeks, Richard
AU - Duncombe, Richard
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Growth of digital platforms in developing countries has yet to see equivalent growth in research. This paper presents one of the first conceptualised analyses of platform implementation and impact. Using the “multi-level perspective”, it analyses a successful ride-hailing platform: EasyTaxi in Bogotá, Colombia. This was originally a niche innovation but has effected a socio-technical transition to a dominant position within Bogotá’s taxi regime. Speed of transition is explained in terms of tensions within that regime and from wider demographic change, combined with specific utility of the platform to drivers and passengers who faced a prior context of exploitation, mistrust and insecurity. Though the new regime is a hybrid of platform and non-platform features, its impacts can already be seen: datafication, formalisation, and shift in power away from old taxi operating companies and towards passengers and, in particular, towards the platform itself. Alongside case-specific insights, the paper demonstrates the utility of the multi-level perspective as a means to analyse the enactment of digital platforms.
AB - Growth of digital platforms in developing countries has yet to see equivalent growth in research. This paper presents one of the first conceptualised analyses of platform implementation and impact. Using the “multi-level perspective”, it analyses a successful ride-hailing platform: EasyTaxi in Bogotá, Colombia. This was originally a niche innovation but has effected a socio-technical transition to a dominant position within Bogotá’s taxi regime. Speed of transition is explained in terms of tensions within that regime and from wider demographic change, combined with specific utility of the platform to drivers and passengers who faced a prior context of exploitation, mistrust and insecurity. Though the new regime is a hybrid of platform and non-platform features, its impacts can already be seen: datafication, formalisation, and shift in power away from old taxi operating companies and towards passengers and, in particular, towards the platform itself. Alongside case-specific insights, the paper demonstrates the utility of the multi-level perspective as a means to analyse the enactment of digital platforms.
KW - Digital platform
KW - Multi-level perspective
KW - Ride-hailing
KW - Socio-technical transitions
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85065322851
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-18400-1_16
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-18400-1_16
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85065322851
SN - 9783030183998
T3 - IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
SP - 195
EP - 206
BT - Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D - 15th IFIP WG 9.4 International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, ICT4D 2019, Proceedings
A2 - Nielsen, Petter
A2 - Kimaro, Honest Christopher
PB - Springer New York LLC
Y2 - 1 May 2019 through 3 May 2019
ER -