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Digital platforms can be opened in two ways to promote innovation and value generation. A platform owner can open access for third-party participants by establishing boundary resources, such as APIs and an app store, to allow complements to be developed and shared for the platform. Furthermore, to foster cooperation with the complementors, the platform owner can use an open-source license boundary resource to open and share the platform’s core resources. However, openness that is too wide renders the platform and its shared resources vulnerable to strategic exploitation. To our knowledge, platform strategies that promote such negative outcomes have remained unexplored in past research. We identify and analyze a prominent form of strategic exploitation called platform forking in which a hostile firm, i.e., a forker, bypasses the host’s controlling boundary resources and exploits the platform’s shared resources, core and complements, to create a competing platform business. We investigate platform forking on Google’s Android platform, a successful open digital platform, by analyzing the fate of five Android forks and related exploitative activities. We observe several strategies that illustrate alternative ways of bundling a platform fork from a set of host, forker, and other resources. We also scrutinize Google’s responses, which modified Android’s boundary resources to curb exploitation and retain control. In this paper, we make two contributions. First, we present a theorization of the competitive advantage of open digital platforms and specifically expose platform forking as an exploitative and competitive platform strategy. Second, we extend platform governance literature by showing how boundary resources, which are mainly viewed as cooperative governance mechanisms, are also used to combat platform forking and thus sustain a platform’s competitive advantage.

As digital platforms are transforming almost every industry today, they are slowly finding their way into the mainstream information systems (ISs) literature. Digital platforms are a challenging research object because of their distributed nature and intertwinement with institutions, markets and technologies. New research challenges arise as a result of the exponentially growing scale of platform innovation, the increasing complexity of platform architectures and the spread of digital platforms to many different industries. This paper develops a research agenda for digital platforms research in IS. We recommend researchers seek to (1) advance conceptual clarity by providing clear definitions that specify the unit of analysis, degree of digitality and the sociotechnical nature of digital platforms; (2) define the proper scoping of digital platform concepts by studying platforms on different architectural levels and in different industry settings; and (3) advance methodological rigour by employing embedded case studies, longitudinal studies, design research, data-driven modelling and visualisation techniques. Considering current developments in the business domain, we suggest six questions for further research: (1) Are platforms here to stay? (2) How should platforms be designed? (3) How do digital platforms transform industries? (4) How can data-driven approaches inform digital platforms research? (5) How should researchers develop theory for digital platforms? and (6) How do digital platforms affect everyday life?

Both in demolition and renovation projects, many construction products are discarded before they have reached the end of their technical lifespan. To preserve their embedded values, these products can be reused in other projects. This requires matchmaking between those products’ offer and demand, an area where insights are still lacking today. Therefore, this paper explores the intersection of material scouting processes and digital reuse platforms within the context of circular construction practices in Northwestern Europe. Through interviews with four pioneering material scouts, including Rotor (BE), Superuse Studios (NL), Bellastock (FR), and Zirkular (CH), the research examines their practices of salvaging (i.e. offer-based matchmaking) and sourcing (i.e. demand-based matchmaking). Additionally, an analysis of 50 digital platforms across Northwestern Europe explores their roles in facilitating scouting processes for reused construction products, categorizing them into four main typologies: asset managers, brokers, dealers, and portals. By linking the platform typologies with the pioneering scouting practices, the research presents a range of possible circular salvaging and sourcing actions, along with the digital assets used to support them. These insights should help material scouts define their matchmaking approaches and assist emerging platforms in positioning themselves, starting from the value they create for material scouts.

Platform sponsors typically have both incentive and opportunity to manage the overall value of their ecosystems. Through selective promotion, a platform sponsor can reward successful complements, bring attention to underappreciated complements, and influence the consumer’s perception of the ecosystem’s depth and breadth. It can use promotion to induce and reward loyalty of powerful complement producers, and it can time such promotion to both boost sales during slow periods and reduce competitive interactions between complements. We develop arguments about whether and when a platform sponsor will selectively promote individual complements and test these arguments on data from the console video game industry in the United Kingdom. We find that platform sponsors do not simply promote “best in class” complements; they strategically invest in complements in ways that address complex trade-offs in ecosystem value. Our arguments and results build significant new theory that helps us understand how a platform sponsor orchestrates value creation in the overall ecosystem.

IntroductionHealthcare professionals (HCPs) face unique challenges when managing patients with schizophrenia. Educational initiatives targeting common clinical dilemmas encountered by clinicians, including partial or nonadherence, may alleviate knowledge gaps and clarify the role of long-acting injectable antipsychotic agents (LAIs) in treating this population.Methods4 experts in schizophrenia management used empirical evidence to identify 11 key clinical dilemmas where LAIs may be useful. These experts then developed a heuristic, educational tool (S.C.O.P.E.™: Schizophrenia Clinical Outcome Scenarios and Patient-Provider Engagement) based on empirical evidence and expert opinion for clinicians to use when encountering similar scenarios to optimize schizophrenia care.ResultsS.C.O.P.E.™ is a freely-available resource comprising an interactive digital platform providing educational materials for HCPs involved in continued care for patients with schizophrenia. S.C.O.P.E.™ provides HCPs with considerations in common clinical scenarios met in inpatient and outpatient settings, as well as questions to consider when patients present to the emergency department. The potential usefulness of LAIs is explored in each scenario. Clinical education videos prepare nurse practitioners, social workers, and case managers to address patient concerns and communicate the benefits of LAI treatment. S.C.O.P.E.™ will not replace clinical judgment, guidelines, or continuing medical education, and is not a platform for recording patient-level data, nor intended for payer negotiations or access-related questions by HCPs.ConclusionsS.C.O.P.E.™ is an educational tool for HCPs to use alongside standard psychiatric evaluations to improve understanding of how to manage common clinical dilemmas when treating patients with schizophrenia and the role of LAIs in schizophrenia management.FundingTeva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D, Inc.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize virtual influencer marketing, outlining the opportunities and dangers associated with using virtual influencers in social media marketing communications. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the literature addressing influencer marketing and interactions between consumers and technologies, this paper introduces the landscape of virtual influencer marketing. Findings This paper distinguishes virtual influencers from real-life influencers and related digital characters. It further defines four unique elements attributed to virtual influencers: customization, flexibility, ownership and automation. Finally, it introduces a taxonomy for virtual influencers. Research limitations/implications The conceptualization of virtual influencer marketing contributes to advancing the understanding of the (virtual) influencer marketing landscape. Practical implications This paper suggests that brands need to carefully evaluate the different characteristics of virtual influencers, when deciding to leverage them in social media marketing communications. It also provides guidelines for working with virtual influencers in marketing campaigns targeted at consumers. Social implications This paper discusses ethical and social implications for brands and consumers that interact with virtual influencers in the encounter between reality and virtuality. Originality/value This paper makes three contributions. First, it conceptualizes virtual influencer marketing by defining and critically evaluating the key characteristics attributed to virtual influencers. Second, it offers a 2 × 2 taxonomy of virtual influencers, grounded in research on anthropomorphism and reality–virtuality. Third, this paper reflects on the opportunities and dangers associated with virtual influencer marketing, outlining avenues for future research.

IntroductionNHS waiting lists are long due to limited specialists and long training times. Workflow automation and AI could be valuable tools to address these needs. As part of a scalable, digital transformation strategy to reduce waiting lists, optimising patient clinical history data augmented by intelligent machine learning prior to a consultation has significant benefits e.g. gathering more relevant data, reducing clinician documentation burden, improved risk stratification, the ability to develop well-governed digital-first clinical pathways and better utilisation of specialist capacity. Nonetheless, healthcare has slowly adopted automation due to poor user experience (UX), interoperability issues, and the challenges of personal health data. As the first phase of our study, we hypothesised that intelligent ‘Consultant-level’, pre-consultation specialist assessment (PCQ) using a digital platform could be acceptable as a scalable solution to improve specialist workflow that could then be improved in the future by AI.MethodsAs part of a proof-of-concept study prior to a real-world study involving 100 patients, we prospectively identified individuals to fill out a standardised, anonymised PCQ using a secure digital platform that mimicked a typical GI clinic new consultation. The aim was to gather data on the UX when providing high volume clinical data prior to a consultation. The consented adults were led through a series of 70–120 questions dynamically based on their responses. They documented their experiences, time taken, ease of process, expected benefits in a real-world specialist consultation, and the viability of this innovation to reduce waiting lists.ResultsThe average age group was 45 to 54 yrs. (range 18 to >55 yrs.), n=10. The overall experience was 4.5 (0 = very hard, 5 = excellent), overall ease of process was 2.3 (1 =easy, 5 = very hard), the ability to provide a sufficiently detailed history was 1.5 (1 = very easy, 5 = very hard) and this type of PCQ being helpful to a future consultation was 5 (1 = very unhelpful, 5 = very helpful). The average time to fill the PCQ was 12.5 mins (range 5 to > 20 mins). 100% agreed that this pre-consultation innovation would help clinicians be better prepared and be more efficient and 90% were very happy to fill out this type of PCQ if it helped reduce NHS waiting lists.ConclusionsOutpatient GI and hepatology services can benefit from rapidly emerging digital workflow automation technologies which are user friendly, provide detailed histories and could empower clinicians. Simply put, even a five-minute reduction per patient in specialist administrative burden during a 12-patient clinic generates an hour’s extra specialist capacity to help reduce clinic waiting lists or deliver endoscopy without increasing the actual hours of specialist time worked.