Emergence of multi-sided platforms: a value-based perspective in Digital Health

The present paper aims at understanding the emergence process of a multi-sided digital platform by applying the value-based perspective of (digital) health. While new emerging multi-sided platforms (MSPs) play a critical role in the shift towards digital health, with the prevailing interest in the stablished and mature platforms, the platform emergence phenomenon is almost neglected. Existing research on MSPs has mainly focused on the value and growth of established platforms enabled by network effects and the aggressive attraction of more new users. Exploring the case of the Safe Steps healthcare MSP, the present paper revealed the fine-grained process of the MSP emergence that consists of the three phases, namely, 1) platform activation, 2) platform scale-up, and 3) shared values merger. Moreover, we found that shared between the platform actors’ values are the drivers of the platform emergence, platform actors’ attraction, and value creation. The present research contributes to the digital platforms literature, specifically, platforms emergence. Moreover, the paper put the break into an understanding of the nature of value creation of an MSP health platform.