مطالعات مدیریت کسب و کار هوشمند (May 2024)
Generative mechanisms of digital banking ecosystem evolution
Abstract
.Today, digitization is considered as a requirement for all financial and monetary institutions and markets, and the banking industry is no exception. However, moving to digital banking is not an easy task for banks, and the digital revolution has become a major challenge for this industry. In order to keep their business stable, banks need to launch digital platforms and create robust ecosystems around them that have the ability to evolve and adapt to the challenges caused by the chaotic and unpredictable environment in which organizations operate and the increase in internal inefficiencies. Therefore, this research was conducted with the purpose of modeling the generative mechanisms of the evolution of Iran's digital banking ecosystem. For this purpose, the qualitative content analysis method has been used. A semi-structured interview has been used to collect information using the opinions of experts in the field of digital banking. The analysis of the conducted interviews led to the identification of 674 themes, 181 codes, 59 subcategories, and 20 categories. The results of the research show that there are external factors, including cyber-attacks, political and governance obstacles, the increasing progress of communication and information technology, changes in the competitive environment, and conflicting investment relationships in the financial and banking fields, and internal factors, including the absence of strong security infrastructure in the network and weak security, weakness in digital human capital, changing needs and demands of actors, weakness in the traditional business model, and the lack of a management perspective regarding the growth of digital banking and regulatory and legal requirements, are the stimuli for the co-evolution of the elements of the digital banking ecosystem, which occurs with the activation of reinforcing and transformative generative mechanisms. The consequences of the evolution of the digital banking ecosystem can be classified into three levels: users, owner, and society.IntroductionIn the digital revolution, with the change in customer behavior and expectations and the behavior of businesses, the structure of the competition and the strategic context of the business world has changed, and the banking industry is not an exception to this rule; therefore, digitalization is considered a requirement for the banking industry. However, moving to digital banking is not an easy task for banks, and the digital revolution has become a major challenge for this industry. The previous studies have revealed that, so far, some banks have not been successful in facing the fundamental changes of the digital age and have not been able to take fundamental actions to stabilize their businesses. To this end, the first step to realizing these changes in the banking industry is a complete reconsideration of customer relations and the method of providing value to meet customer needs, business models, platforms, and ecosystems. Yet it is not enough to set up a digital platform ecosystem and just rapidly multiply it, as keeping it stable is also highly important as well. In fact, digital platform ecosystems that can be sustained over the long term are very rare. Therefore, digital platform ecosystems must have the ability to evolve and adapt to the challenges caused by the chaotic and unpredictable environment that organizations operate in as well as the increase of internal inefficiencies. Thus, besides the need for a complete rethinking of the digital banking ecosystem, the manner in which its evolutionary process has been in Iran's banking industry is important. Thus far, neither of these issues has been investigated in Iran which signifies the necessity of applied and fundamental research. The current research tries to fill this gap in the country.Research Question(s)What are the elements of the digital banking platform ecosystem and which will evolve in the future?What are the generative mechanisms of digital banking platform ecosystem evolution?What are the stimulating factors and consequences of the evolution of the digital banking platform ecosystem?Literature ReviewNowadays, digitization has become a strategic priority for the banking industry, and the establishment of digital banking requires creating a strong ecosystem around the digital banking platform and developing it. However, so far, there has not been any systematic and comprehensive approach regarding the evolution of the digital platform ecosystem. Previous studies identify digital platform ecosystems as highly evolving socio-technical arrangements that require rapid development and adaptation to ensure their long-term sustainability. Due to the lack of a clear conceptualization of the evolution of digital platform ecosystems, Stykova (2019) integrated different perspectives and proposed a novel conceptualization of the evolution of digital platform ecosystems. According to his studies, the evolution of the digital platform ecosystem delineates continuous changes in the digital platform ecosystem in relation to its actors, architecture, and governance. Through these changes, the simultaneous development of platform structures, infrastructure, functionalities, and governance regime occurs. The endogenous and exogenous events and factors emerging during the evolution of the digital platform ecosystem challenge the configuration of the ecosystem and lead to changing it. Staykova defines two types of generative mechanisms for the evolution of the digital platform ecosystem: transformative and reinforcing.MethodologyIn this research, the qualitative content analysis method is used. A group of experts in the field of digital banking in Iran's banking industry who have deep insight and the necessary knowledge about the subject of the research participated as the statistical population of this research. The purposive sampling method was employed for sampling and continued until the theoretical saturation was reached. Therefore, in this research, 21 interviews were conducted, and due to the incompleteness of some of them, in the end, by analyzing 18 interviews, the research questions were answered, and theoretical saturation was achieved.ResultsThe analysis of the interviews led to the identification of 674 themes, 181 codes, 59 subcategories, and 20 categories. Based on the results of categorization in thematic analysis and review of the theoretical foundations and the related literature, the elements of the digital banking platform ecosystem, including ecosystem actors, platform architecture, and platform governance were identified. Moreover, External factors, such as cyber-attacks, political and governance obstacles, the increasing progress of communication and information technology, changes in the competitive environment, and conflicting investment relationships in the financial and banking fields, as well as internal factors, such as the absence of strong security infrastructure in the network and weak security, weakness in digital human capital, changing needs and demands of actors, weakness in the traditional business model, and lack of management perspective regarding the growth of digital banking and regulatory and legal requirements, are the co-evolutionary stimuli of digital banking platform ecosystem elements, which appear as a result of the activation of generative, reinforcing and transformative mechanisms. Finally, the implications of the evolution of the ecosystem of the digital banking platform can be classified into three levels. The benefits of the evolution of the ecosystem for users are increasing the speed of providing and receiving services, gaining usefulness, improved security, freedom in providing and receiving services, ease of access, and co-creation of value. The implications of evolution for the owner (organization) are the Orchestrator role of the owner, dynamic capability, market size, increased revenue, increased productivity, and business sustainability. Furthermore, the outcomes of the evolution of the ecosystem at the community level include social, environmental, and economic benefits, which are indicators of reaching the maturity stage in the life cycle of the digital banking platform ecosystem.
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