Tensions in Inter-Organizational Data Sharing: Findings from Literature and Practice

Inter-organizational data sharing is a powerful engine required for driving the data economy. However, a major issue in research and practice remains overcoming barriers, such as a lack of trust preventing data sharing from penetrating all levels of business and fully exploiting its potential. Given the interplay of generating value from shared data and the barriers one needs to overcome, those wanting to share their data must balance what motivates them (incentives) and what hinders them (barriers) and solve the resulting conflicts (tensions). Solving these tensions enables organizations to make informed and sensible decisions on how to share data. Since sharing data has become more prevalent in research and practice, our paper tackles precisely that issue. We explore emerging tensions in inter-organizational data sharing using data generated from a systematic literature view and qualitative expert interviews. We complete our research with workshops to supplement the results and validate them.