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Re-framing community in the platform age: analyzing organization and power in BlaBlaCar
Titolo Rivista: STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI  
Autori/Curatori: Davide Arcidiacono, Ivana Pais 
Anno di pubblicazione:  2021 Fascicolo: 1  Lingua: Inglese 
Numero pagine:  26 P. 79-104 Dimensione file:  327 KB
DOI:  10.3280/SO2021-001004
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The concept of community remains crucial in social sciences and organizational analysis. In recent years, the concept of community has become a sort of buzzword, in particular, with the rise of the so-called sharing and platform economy. This contribution asks what kinds of communities are enabled by collaborative platforms and how power is practiced within these peculiar organizations, considering them as evaluative infrastructures. The article explores these issues through the empirical analysis of one of the best-known sharing platforms (BlaBlaCar) adopting a mixed method approach. The research concludes that the analyzed case presents the main characteristics of a brand community, although it has some specific and original features. Compared to other evaluation infrastructures, in BlaBlaCar the control is more centralized and the power more legitimated, as it is considered a guarantee of security and reliability of the service which increases the loyalty to company’s brand.

Il concetto di comunità continua ad essere cruciale nelle scienze sociali e nell'analisi organizzativa. Negli ultimi anni il concetto di community è diventato una sorta di parola d'ordine, in particolare, con l'avvento della cosiddetta sharing o platform economy. Questo contributo si interroga su quali tipi di comunità siano abilitate dalle piattaforme collaborative digitali e come si esercita il potere all'interno di queste organizzazioni peculiari, considerandole come infrastrutture valutative. L'articolo esplora questi temi attraverso l'analisi empirica di una delle più note piattaforme di condivisione (BlaBlaCar) adottando un approccio misto. La ricerca conclude che il caso analizzato presenta le caratteristiche principali di una brand community, sebbene presenti alcune caratteristiche specifiche e originali. Rispetto ad altre infrastrutture di valutazione, in BlaBlaCar il controllo è più centralizzato e l’esercizio del potere più legittimato, in quanto considerato una garanzia di sicurezza e affidabilità del servizio che aumenta la fedeltà al marchio.
Keywords: Brand community, platform economy, sharing economy, carpooling, algorithmic management

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Davide Arcidiacono, Ivana Pais, in "STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI " 1/2021, pp. 79-104, DOI:10.3280/SO2021-001004

   

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