Ethical governance model for the data economy ecosystems
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-01-2022-0005 |
| Published date | 10 February 2023 |
| Date | 10 February 2023 |
| Pages | 221-235 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
| Author | Jani Koskinen,Sari Knaapi-Junnila,Ari Helin,Minna Marjaana Rantanen,Sami Hyrynsalmi |
Ethical governance model for the data
economy ecosystems
Jani Koskinen, Sari Knaapi-Junnila, Ari Helin, Minna Marjaana Rantanen and
Sami Hyrynsalmi
Abstract
Purpose –Data economy is a recent phenomenon,raised by digital transformation and platformisation,
which has enabledthe concentration of data that can be used in economicpurposes. However, there is a
lack of clear procedures and ethical rules on how data economy ecosystems are governed. As a
responseto the current situation, there has been criticismand demands for the governance of data use to
prevent unethical consequences that have already manifested. Thus, ethical governance of the data
economy ecosystems is needed. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new ethical governance
model for data economy ecosystems. The proposed model offers a more balanced solution for the
current situation where a few global large-scale enterprises dominate the data market and may use
oligopolisticpower over other stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach –This is a conceptual article that covers theory-based discourse
ethical reflection of data economy ecosystems governance. The study is based on the premise of the
discourse ethicswhere inclusion of all stakeholders is needed for creatinga transparent and ethical data
economy.
Findings –This article offers self-regulation tool for data economy ecosystems by discourse ethical
approach which is designed in the governance model. The model aims to balance data ‘‘markets’’ by
offeringmore transparent, democratic and equal systemthan currently.
Originality/value –By offering a new ethically justified governance model, we may create a trust
structurewhere rules are visible and all stakeholders are treatedfairly.
Keywords Ecosystem governance, Data economy, Data economy ecosystem, Habermas,
Discourse ethics
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction
The “data economy” is a buzzword that has implicated in a new and flourishing area of the
economy that changes the world –and simultaneously it is seen paradoxical (Acquier et al.,
2017;Sadowski, 2019). Currently, data ecosystems are created and controlled by a few big
tech companies (Koskinen et al.,2017;Koskinen et al., 2019). Recently, the practices of
companies have gained negative attention because of some dubious episodes, including
Cambridge Analytica (Berghel, 2018) and censorship by platform owners (Koskinen et al.,
2017;Ververis et al.,2019), to mention a few. Likewise, the questionable adventure of
Iceland’s genome information (Ja
¨rvenpa
¨a
¨and Markus, 2018) is an illustrative example
where individuals and their rights were bypassed by companies and governmental actors.
This kind of phenomena is described as data colonialism, which has normalised the
exploitation of humans through personal data (Couldry and Mejias, 2019). Zuboff (2015)
calls this kind of economy as surveillance capitalism that is based on the logic of
accumulation. The logic of accumulation/surveillance capitalismappears in operation mode
where data is collected from a multitude of sources, then extracted,analysed, commodified
and finally used to make profit.
Jani Koskinen,
Sari Knaapi-Junnila,
Ari Helin and
Minna Marjaana Rantanen
are all based at unit of
Information System
Sciences, University of
Turku, Turku, Finland.
Sami Hyrynsalmi is based
at the Department of
Software Engineering, LUT
University –Lahti Campus,
Lahti, Finland.
Received 7 February 2022
Revised 6 October 2022
16 December 2022
Accepted 15 January 2023
©Jani Koskinen,
Sari Knaapi-Junnila, Ari Helin,
Minna Marjaana Rantanen and
Sami Hyrynsalmi. Published by
Emerald Publishing Limited.
This article is published under
the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create
derivative works of this article
(for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes),
subject to full attribution to the
original publication and
authors. The full terms of this
licence may be seen at http://
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DOI 10.1108/DPRG-01-2022-0005 VOL. 25 NO. 3 2023, pp. 221-235, Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 jDIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE jPAGE 221
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