Title to be announced

Abstract

Increasingly, platforms are being used to orchestrate interaction and cooperation among diverse participants addressing grand challenges, yet empirical studies are limited. We investigate how collective action drives legitimation in grand challenge platforms through a qualitative study of the European Commission’s “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities” Mission and its supporting platform organization, NetZeroCities. We find that while a platform’s alignment with a higher-order purpose, such as a grand challenge, attracts participants, usability challenges can undermine its legitimation, resulting in participant collective action. We present an informed theoretical model making two significant contributions. First, we advance understanding of how a platform identity reinforces both discursive and performative legitimation through a shared and consistent purpose. Second, we contribute to the literature on collective action, platforms, and grand challenges by theorizing how platforms can serve as organizing agents to address societal goals, enabling and sustaining collective action over time.

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Organised by

ABRI and the KIN Center for Digital Innovation