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The purpose of the paper is to explore how collaborations can increase the impact of food sharing platforms, which offer the potential to reduce food waste by facilitating contact between suppliers and consumers. With this comes the need to address the twofold challenge of being digital and having an economic and social-environmental mission. Thus, adopting a system perspective and recognizing stakeholders as part of a value network can maximize the generated impact.

A multiple case study analysis has been conducted on 12 food sharing platforms. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews, triangulated with internal and external documents and content analysed.

The research outlines the systems of collaboration found in food sharing platforms characterized by two levels of actors (platform players and business players) and five different types of collaboration that can help platforms maximize their impact (boosting the network effect; capturing value; enhancing the business model; extending the type of impact; and scaling up).

The research offers important contributions for the advancement of the field, adding evidence on the opportunities offered by collaborations to generate impact for business and society in the context of the sharing economy and food industry. The research allows to identify the concept of “sustainability-oriented sharing platforms” as a subset of sharing economy platforms characterized by a dual mission and related challenges. From a managerial point of view, the study highlights how designing and implementing collaborations with the stakeholders can increase platforms' impact consistently with the life cycle and short- and long-term perspectives.

Pallets ensure efficient processes in logistics and are exchanged between the different actors, while passing through various supply chains several times. In common practice, the exchange is often not directly carried out on site, e.g. due to a lack of time, so that additional trips and new pallet purchases become necessary. To reduce these negative effects, a digital cross-actor platform is designed, and its potential is investigated.

The authors developed an agent-based simulation model with mathematical optimization. Using experience from practitioners, as well as real-world datasets which were analyzed, the authors ensure a realistic model of the pallet exchange system in Germany.

The authors demonstrated that, with the help of this platform concept, transport routes can be shortened, debts and receivables can partly be equaled out through balancing, and the quantity of pallets in the overall system can be reduced.

The results are not directly transferable to pallet exchange systems in other countries without considering their general settings.

Digital networking increases the efficiency of the existing pallet exchange system. Even small collaborations prove to be reasonable.

The authors developed new mechanisms for a digital pallet exchange platform, which takes on the role of a central planning instance, in addition to recording pallet receivables and debts. It enables the planning of the commodity flow of empty pallets, which are transported by the forwarders on regular routes, and distributed between the platform participants.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a domain model for online community building and collaboration in e‐government and policy modelling.

The authors followed a structured approach including five distinct steps: define the domain to be investigated; collect domain knowledge from both existing online community building and collaboration platforms and domain experts; analyse the gathered knowledge; develop and evaluate the domain model.

A domain model was developed for community building and collaboration in eGovernment and policy modelling, including the domain definition, the domain lexicon and the conceptual models modelling its basic entities and functions of the domain. In particular, the UML class diagram was used for modelling the domain entities and the UML use cases diagram for modelling the domain functions.

A literature search revealed a lack of domain models for online community building and collaboration, not only in e‐government and policy modelling but also in general. The proposed model provides a better understanding of the domain. It can also be used in the development of relevant platforms, leading to the reduction of software development costs and delivery time, as well as the improvement of software quality and reliability, by minimising domain analysis errors.

Online collaboration in today's world is a topic of genuine interest to Internet researchers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of group knowledge heterogeneity (GKH) in open collaboration performance using the mediating mechanisms of group cognition (GC) and interaction to understand the determinants of the success of online open collaboration platforms.

Study findings are based on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the formal mediation test and moderating effect analysis from Wikipedia's 160 online open collaborative groups.

For online knowledge heterogeneous groups, open collaboration performance is mediated by both GC and collaborative interaction (COL). The mediating role of GC is weak, while the mediating role of COL is strengthened when knowledge complexity (KC) is higher. By dividing group interaction into COL and communicative interaction (COM), the authors also observed that COL is effective for online open collaboration, whereas COM is limited.

These findings suggest that for more heterogeneous large groups, group interaction would explain more variance in performance than GC, offering an in-depth understanding of the relationship between group heterogeneity and open collaboration performance, answering what determines the success of online open collaboration platforms as well as explaining the inconsistency in prior findings. In addition, this study expands the application of Interactive Team Cognition (ITC) theory to the online open collaboration context.

The importance of co-innovation platforms has been well established, but a valid and reliable instrument to measure the affordances of these platforms for co-innovation behavior has not yet been reported in the literature. A robust, validated instrument to measure co-innovation platform affordances (PAs) will facilitate the conduct of studies across different platforms and contribute to enhanced understanding of co-innovation behaviors, outcomes, and platform design. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize co-innovation PAs, develop a reliable measurement instrument capturing critical facets of co-innovation, namely ideation, collaboration, and communication, and validate the instrument.

The construct of PAs was conceptualized based on the findings from two case studies of co-innovation networks and the key characteristics of social mediating technology affordances. The measurement items newly developed via a case study underwent a two-round exploratory analysis to ensure face validity and content validity. The resulting instrument was subjected to a pilot study and a field study to establish the necessary reliability and validity.

The findings of the study reveal that co-innovation PAs have three distinctive components, namely ideation, collaboration, and communication. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that PAs are most appropriately operationalized as a second-order construct comprising all three components. The empirical results from the field study show a high degree of confidence in both translation validity and criterion-related validity.

Drawing from co-innovation and affordances literature, this study develops and validates a general instrument to measure co-innovation PAs. The result is a reliable and parsimonious instrument with 12 items. The authors believe that the instrument can contribute significantly to future empirical investigations of co-innovation behavior on virtual platforms.

Innovation ecosystem is an emerging and popular concept in both academic and industrial circles. It offers a new perspective for enterprise strategy positioning. A business can create more value through a healthy innovation ecosystem. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the authors utilize a new triple-layer core-periphery framework to analyze Insigma Group’s multi-platform collaboration innovation ecosystem, in order to explore the architecture and heterogeneous functions inside an innovation ecosystem.

The authors illustrate the components and working mechanisms of the four platforms, which function as ideation, entrepreneurship, financing and investment, and innovation, inside Insigma’s innovation ecosystem in detail, and explain how they interact and collaborate toward a shared aim of the whole innovation ecosystem.

The innovation ecosystem is an emerging concept. In this study, the authors combined two existing analytical frameworks of innovation ecosystem, and proposed a triple-layer core-periphery framework, which enable us to analyze the heterogeneity inside an innovation ecosystem.

The authors discussed the role of government and its policies in shaping the innovation ecosystem at the enterprise level.

The authors believe that this paper provides a holistic study of Insigma’s innovation ecosystem. The triple-layer core-periphery framework can be used to study other enterprise innovation ecosystem in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to present two classes of distance learning experiments, with feedbacks. The experiments are based on constructivism theory.

The paper adopts an experimental approach. Experiments are made with students. The assessments come from an analysis of questionnaires.

The results show technical evaluations and pedagogical evaluations of the e‐learning platform.

There are functional improvements of the developed platform.

There are technical improvements of the developed platform.

This paper presents a student centered pedagogical approach supported by distant e‐learning platform.

Covid-19 outbreak has compelled the world-wide education system to use the digital collaboration platform (DCP) for online learning, for robust inclusive sustainable education. The purpose of this paper is to understand the adoption intention and effectiveness of DCP using technology acceptance model (TAM) for online learning among students studying in higher education institutes (HEIs) in India.

A structured questionnaire has been adopted to survey and collect data from 324 students studying in HEI of Maharashtra state in India. The questionnaire consisted of 28 constructs. The constructs in this section were measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging. In the first step, first-order confirmatory factor analysis is carried out by using the software IBM AMOS-20. The initial model is generated for six constructs, and outcomes are used to analyze the model’s goodness of fit and construct validity. In second step, structural equation modelling is carried out to do the path analysis of the proposed model.

The findings connote that the interactivity, cost-effectiveness and the core TAM constructs as perceived usefulness form positive attitude towards usage of DCP and intention to adopt it in near future by the students of HEI of India. The research is an attempt to provide possible explanations for the epochal relationships between the constructs and discusses the usage of information, which can be further used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India.

The results and findings will provide a direction to the various stakeholders such as educators, management, learners and the parents on the adoption intention of digital collaborative platform from a learner’s point of view. This will lead to the knowledge which will help in practical implementations of these technologies.

The results and findings will provide a direction to the various stakeholders such as educators, management, learners and the parents on the adoption intention of DCP from learner’s point of view. This will lead to the knowledge which will help in practical implementations of these technologies. The findings imply that the interactivity, cost-effectiveness and the core constructs of TAM such as perceived usefulness form positive attitude towards usage of DCP and intention to adopt it in near future by the students of HEI of India. This research provides possible explanations for the significant relationships between the constructs and discusses how this information can be used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India.

This research provides possible explanations for the significant relationships between the constructs and discusses how this information can be used to enhance the acceptance of DCP among students in urban as well as rural India, which is the need of hour for sustainable education.

There are tremendous studies on online learning and use of digital platforms including the constructs of TAM but in the times of Covid-19, where it has become mandatory for all educational institutes to use the digital collaborative platform for continuance of education. The study is original and is an attempt to understand students’ perspective towards usage of DCP and its effectiveness in learning in the rural parts of Maharashtra from where the students hail to study in HEI in Pune and Mumbai.

Technological firms increasingly depend on open innovation to compete in hypercompetitive markets. To openly engage the creativity of a multitude of private actors, firms can rely on crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing challenges global companies as they span organizational boundaries to attract multiple local partners. Global companies must engage in boundary spanning to successfully communicate and create a sense of community with smaller local partners despite status and cultural differences. The collaboration between Google and developers in China deserves to be studied in particular, because it operates within a restricted market.

This paper argues that crowdsourcing for innovation on a global scale requires effective boundary spanning capabilities. These boundary-spanning practices ensure smooth cooperation with the crowd and solve problems relating to differences in status and organizational contexts. This study applies Bourdieu's theory of practice including the concept of capital (economic, intellectual, social and symbolic) to understand the social relationships between Google and a growing community of Chinese developers. It also draws on a case study including ten semistructured interviews, which have been triangulated with internal documents and data from selected websites.

Four types of capital (symbolic, intellectual, social and economic) have been identified as important devices to understand the sources of power and the stakes of Googlers and developers in the joint field. These types of capital contribute to structure the social fields in which developers and Google cooperate and their practice. The success of the collaboration between Google and Chinese developers can arguably be attributed to Google's ability to create boundary-spanning activities in order to reduce the endowment differential in the four types of capital and improve their communication. Therefore, this research provides a deep and conceptualized description of boundary-spanning practices, as well as providing a useful contribution for managers involved in crowdsourcing via platform in culturally different markets.

The main limitation of this study is methodological in nature, relating to the absence of interviews with board members of Google China who are reluctant to speak about Google activities in China for political raisons. This restriction is partly counterbalanced by the analysis of publicly available secondary data such as news and communications.

This research has generated practical recommendations for managers of organizations, which require optimal boundary spanning for crowdsourcing. Managers must understand the different sources of social boundaries between their organization and the crowd. The crowd should be segmented into smaller groups with distinctive identities, and organizations should systematically design boundary-spanning activities to address each boundary of each segment. The boundary-spanning activities involve a specific set of tools, programs and platforms to address the target group. Efficient boundary spanning depends on the necessity to select boundary spanners with high cultural intelligence and communication skills.

This paper draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice to investigate the role of boundary spanning in crowdsourcing for innovation, specifically in the joint field between Google and Chinese developers. This research reveals how boundary objects such as developer documents, websites, programs and events are essential for developers to be able to participate on Google's platform. Companies should be prepared to invest in the design and delivery of boundary-spanning activities and objects, knowing that these are also a locus for negotiation with local partners.

This research contributes to the literature by applying the boundary-spanner theory to Google crowdsourcing practices within a restricted market. Bourdieu's theory of practice has proven to be a potent perspective with which to better understand the positive role of boundary spanners in the joint field between Google and Chinese developers. Moreover, this practice perspective has not been used in prior research to highlight power relations in crowdsourcing for innovation. This study has shown that, in addition to boundary objects, boundary spanners can also contribute in the transfer of intellectual capital, which is the pivotal resource for boundary spanning in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to explore research opportunities for service innovation and system design in network platforms by investigating representative case examples in an emerging market, China.

The authors provide four case examples to illustrate the manner in which network platforms facilitate and lead to service innovation and effective system design. Then, the authors propose nine research directions that present significant research opportunities, and the authors make theoretical and methodological suggestions.

The results indicate that research opportunities exist mainly in three areas: ecosystem design and evolution, including role design, coherence and sustainability issues; leader–participant collaboration, including governance, co-opetition and innovation stimulation issues; and transformation of traditional industries, including process informatization, modularization and standardization issues.

This study extends the platform-related literature by showing new platform features represented by case evidence from emerging economies, and provides recommendations to guide and direct management practices and efforts in platform-based service innovation and system design.