Abstract
Platformisation underscores an emerging social order in which digital platforms and their data-driven logics increasingly organise social interactions and economic activities. Yet the tendency to overlook the relationship between digital platforms and their surroundings constrains a contextualised understanding of their development and significance. Much remains to be understood about their capacity to consistently innovate and create value, and the extent to which these hinge on social interactions. This thesis addresses not only the need to understand what digital platforms do and the effects they produce, but also how they come to be. It treats digital platforms through a processual and dynamic account that weaves their existence into broader societal contexts. In doing so, the thesis explicitly theorises platformisation as a process to clarify how and why the accomplishments of digital platforms occur.
The papers in this thesis address platformisation by examining the development of digital platforms in relation to diverse societal and industry contexts. They show how tensions emerging through interactions shape the trajectory of the platformisation process over time. They also highlight the role of epistemic changes in enabling platform–context interactions and market reorganisation. Grounded in empirical materials from European, Chinese, and Japanese markets, the thesis sensitises the analysis of platformisation to varied contextual conditions that shape both the operations of digital platforms and the realisation of their effects.