Facilitators:
- Ina Sebastian, MIT Center for Information Systems Research
- Tomaz Sedej, Hyperledger Foundation; Copenhagen Business School
- Kartik Trivedi, Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire
Digital technologies play a growing role in resource integration, thus digital readiness may be a key success factor. But while structures are necessary for coordinating ecosystems, they are likely not sufficient. Relationships are a key ingredient of effective coordination when actors are highly interdependent and when they are carrying out work characterized by high levels of uncertainty and time constraints. Relational coordination is the coordination of work through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, supported by frequent, timely, accurate, problem solving communication in the context of interdependence, uncertainty and time constraints. While this theory has most often been applied within organizations, it has also been expanded to address cross-organizational and cross-sectoral coordination. See for example Gittell and Weiss (2004), Gittell and Storch (2016), Caldwell, Roehrich and George (2017), Gebo and Bond (2019), and Gron, Hvilsted, Ingerslev, Jacobsen, Bech and Holm-Petersen (2024).
Ecosystems may require relational forms of coordination to ensure successful outcomes and to manage conflicting priorities among actors; if so, institutions and digital technologies need to be designed to support relational coordination at and across levels.
Join this February Cafe, hosted by the Digital Ecosystems Innovation Lab, to explore the role of relational coordination in driving digital ecosystem success. Bring your ideas and questions!
Welcome to join the Digital Ecosystems Innovation Lab
References
Adner, R. (2006). Match your innovation strategy to your innovation ecosystem. HBR Spotlight, Harvard Business Review.
Caldwell, N. D., Roehrich, J. K., & George, G. (2017). Social value creation and relational coordination in public‐private collaborations. Journal of Management Studies, 54(6), 906-928.
Jovanovic, M., Kostić, N., Sebastian, I. M., & Sedej, T. (2022). Managing a blockchain-based platform ecosystem for industry-wide adoption: The case of TradeLens. Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Kostić, N., & Sedej, T. (2022). Blockchain technology, inter-organizational relationships, and management accounting: A synthesis and a research agenda. Accounting Horizons
Mustak, M., & Plé, L. (2020). A critical analysis of service ecosystems research: Rethinking its premises to move forward. Journal of Services Marketing. 34(3), 399-413.
Sebastian, I. & Jebsen, C. (2023). Building digitally enabled relational ecosystems for social value creation. AOM Annual Meetings.
Sebastian, I. & Gittell, J.H. (2022). Build relational ecosystems to coordinate amidst uncertainty. MIT Center for Information System Research.
Sebastian, I., Alvarez, H. & Hendriks, B. (2022). Building relational ecosystems to tackle climate change. December 2022 RC Cafe.
Sebastian, I. M., Weill, P., & Woerner, S. L. (2020). Driving growth in digital ecosystems. Sloan Management Review.
Sedej, T. (2021). Blockchain technology and inter-organizational relationships. Copenhagen Business School.