Abstract:

The associated application of data and algorithms in platforms induces many social and public issues. Thus, it is essential to explore the overarching governance logic and system to promote the standardized, healthy, and sustainable development of the platform economy. Drawing on resource-based views and complex systems theory, this research analyzes the connotation, sources of complexity, governance mechanisms, and system construction of digital resources as an aggregated system from multiple perspectives. It is also noted that complex adaptive governance represents a natural progression in managing the linkages between data and algorithms. This approach requires a synergistic evolution of digital resources through mechanisms of self-organization and other-organization. It integrates the logic of iterative “part-part” interactions, the emergence of the upward forces of the “part-whole”, and the control of the downward forces of the “whole-part”. As a result, this framework facilitates the construction of a multidimensional governance system encompassing “Wuli-Shili-Renli”, “power-market-norm”, and “organization-structure-function”.

Key words: platform economy, data, algorithm, complex adaptive governance