Digital platforms: a review and future directions

The increasing adoption of digital platforms as a new mode of organizing economic and social activities has led to a growing interest in research on this topic amongst IS scholars. As a result, the digital platforms literature has grown significantly over the last decade. Yet, scholars call for more research on the topic as platforms evolve and many questions remain unanswered. There is therefore a need to take stock of the existing literature in order to gain better visibility of what has been achieved and what directions future research can take. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on digital platforms including 96 articles, covering IS and management journals. Key findings of this study show an ambiguity in the current conceptualization of digital platforms. They also highlight the multi-dimensional nature of digital platforms which reflects the heterogeneity of their manifestations in practice.