“I Am Your Partner, Am I Not?” An inquiry into stakeholder inclusion in platform organizations in times of crisis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.113776Get rights and content
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Abstract

In this paper we contribute to the understanding of how failed stakeholder inclusion in times of crisis can lead to distrust of platform organizations. Drawing on the revelatory case of Airbnb, we explore how stakeholder inclusion was practiced when the platform was confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe context in which its business practices were disrupted and social interactions uprooted. Our qualitative analysis suggests that platform leaders failed to notice a dissonance between articulated stakeholder meaning and understanding (i.e., what they said) and the crisis response practices implemented (i.e., what they did and did not do). This ultimately fostered distrust and selective disengagement as stakeholders re-interpreted Airbnb’s claims about their role and how stakeholders were given voice in times of crisis. Drawing on research in psychology, we utilize the concept of inattentional blindness as a novel metaphorical explanation for failed stakeholder inclusion in platform organizations in times of crisis.

Keywords

Platform economy
Platform organizations
Stakeholder inclusion
Trust
Inattentional blindness

Data availability

Some of the data is publicly available from the cited sources. The full data set is available from the authors upon request.

Cited by (0)

Nicole Siebold is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship at Aarhus University in Denmark and received her doctorate degree from the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany. Her research focuses on venture growth, business models and business model innovations, new economy ventures, and stakeholder theory. Her research has been published in outlets such as Journal of Business Research, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, and the Journal of Business Venturing Insights, among others. Besides teaching entrepreneurial thinking and business planning for SMEs and platform organizations at the undergraduate and graduate level, Nicole has advised entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds in how to start and grow their enterprises from 2012 to today.

Sebastian Oelrich is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technische Universitaet Dresden in Germany and received his doctorate degree from the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany. His research is concerned with accounting and business ethics, focusing on accountability, governance and voice processes. His research has been published in outlets such as Asian Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, Business Research, and Research in the Sociology of Organizations. In addition to his courses on accounting and business ethics at universities, he is frequently invited to advice policy makers and practitioners on accountability and compliance issues, in particular on the topics of corporate governance and whistleblowing.

Olivier P. Roche is the Head of the Stephen Zuellig Graduate School of Development Management and the C.V Starr Chair in Corporate Governance at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila [Philippines]. Prior to this position, he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Management at the Perdue School of Business, Salisbury University, Salisbury, USA. He holds degrees from Georgetown University (LL.M) and McGill University (Ph.D.). He is a licensed attorney in New York. Prior to his academic career, he worked at the World Bank in Washington DC, and as an international investment banker in Tokyo and Hong Kong. His research interest focuses on corporate governance, decision-making processes, and business models. He has published in journals such as Organizational Dynamics and more recently in The CASE Journal.