Örebro Studies in Business 16 I
ÖREBRO 2021 ÖREBRO STUDIES IN BUSINESS 16 2021AN
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andrea geissinger is a published author in the area of the digitalization of social life. In addition to her research on digital platforms, she is passionate about sustainability, innovation, and societal change. Prior to her research ca-reer, Andrea worked in management consulting.
The year 2020 feels like the beginning of a crescendo of change. As environmental and social challenges reach an all-time high, the organization of our societies is coming under scrutiny. We, as a society, turn to technology to reinvent the organiza-tion of social life after disruptive episodes. Inspired by Bauman’s theorizing to describe the cultural and societal zeitgeist, this thesis explains the institu-tionalization of one of the most promising alternative forms of organization of the past decade: the sharing economy.
Comprised of nine essays centered around three focal areas: (1) Orga-nizational change, (2) Market change, and (3) Societal change, this thesis aims to explain the institutionalization of digital sharing platforms in liquid modern society.
This thesis finds that digital sharing platforms act as societal organizers on several dimensions of “in-betweenness.” As this moment in time can also be characterized as a period of “interregnum”—another moment of in-betweenness—where old structures are continuously disrupted but no clear new path has emerged, digital platform providers fill a structural void in our highly individualized society. Digital platform providers use community as an anchor, a belief, and sets of practices to create an emerging (intermediary) institution around which different forms of organization manifest.
Digital sharing platforms have, however, remained a grace note on systemic change: ornamental and practically non-essential. Still, digital platforms are setting new norms in all areas of organizational, market, and societal life. By evoking both elements of community and market, digital platforms are playing an important part in creating a symphony of our future societal order.
issn 1654-8841 isbn 978-91-7529-377-6
