This research proposes and validates a design theory for digital platforms that support online communities (DPsOC). It addresses ways in which digital platforms can effectively support social interactions in online communities. Drawing upon prior literature on IS design theory, online communities, and platforms, we derive an initial set of propositions for designing effective DPsOC. Our overarching proposition is that three components of digital platform architecture (core, interface, and complements) should collectively support the mix of the three distinct types of social interaction structures of online community (information sharing, collaboration, and collective action). We validate the initial propositions and generate additional insights by conducting an in-depth analysis of an European digital platform for elderly care assistance. We further validate the propositions by analyzing three widely used digital platforms, including Twitter, Wikipedia, and Liquidfeedback, and we derive additional propositions and insights that can guide DPsOC design. We discuss the implications of this research for research and practice.

Drawing on the notion of alignment, this paper endeavors to reappraise e-Government maturity models in the English system of criminal justice. It argues that e-Government maturity models are characterized by relatively-stable trajectories which are punctuated by radical shifts toward full-blown e-Government transformation. Far from being a prescriptive and linear process, e-Government maturity is an unpredictable process where turning points (or radical shifts) play a crucial role in the e-Government strategizing process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed by developing a new theory of e-Government maturity that explains the twists and turns of e-Government strategizing.

No abstract

The paper is centered on the role of technology and specifically of IT in the recombination of the factors of production. Particularly, the objective is to see how this technology contributes to the formulation of business strategies, the outlining of organizational structures and the alignment with the business environment. A theoretical framework is proposed that combines three perspectives. The first perspective stresses the importance of digital architectures in the modalities through which firms organize for innovation. Second, organization as a platform outlines a scenario for generating multiple organizational forms based on recombination of existent resources, routines and transactions. Third, digital platforms are seen as determinant tools for a dematerialization process that consents to recombine the factors of production for achieving a competitive advantage. The Midblue project provides an illustrative example of how strategy, structure and information technology co-evolve in organizations and how digital platforms can trigger transformation at both strategic and organizational levels

Differently from other studies that tend to take into consideration actual behaviors of online community users, this paper addresses the design problem of IT platforms for supporting these communities. At the basis of this design theory here introduced there is the so called kernel theory. The comparison between offline and online communities allowed to outline main factors of this theory that were used in order to derive prescriptions for the metarequirements, the product features (meta-design), the design process (design method) and the definition of testable design product and process hypotheses. An intelligent multimedia platform providing innovative social e-servicesfor European elderly persons and their social entourage constituted the case study in which the IT design theory was applied.