Purpose Data economy is a recent phenomenon, raised by digital transformation and platformisation, which has enabled the concentration of data that can be used in economic purposes. However, there is a lack of clear procedures and ethical rules on how data economy ecosystems are governed. As a response to the current situation, there has been criticism and demands for the governance of data use to prevent unethical consequences that have already manifested. Thus, ethical governance of the data economy ecosystems is needed. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new ethical governance model for data economy ecosystems. The proposed model offers a more balanced solution for the current situation where a few global large-scale enterprises dominate the data market and may use oligopolistic power over other stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual article that covers theory-based discourse ethical reflection of data economy ecosystems governance. The study is based on the premise of the discourse ethics where inclusion of all stakeholders is needed for creating a transparent and ethical data economy. Findings This article offers self-regulation tool for data economy ecosystems by discourse ethical approach which is designed in the governance model. The model aims to balance data “markets” by offering more transparent, democratic and equal system than currently. Originality/value By offering a new ethically justified governance model, we may create a trust structure where rules are visible and all stakeholders are treated fairly.

Our study investigates the formation of voluntary interorganizational IT governance for healthcare and social welfare IT. IT governance research has focused on governance within one organization. Therefore we first investigate the theoretical background of inter-organizational governance to understand better the formation of such arrangements. In addition to IT governance and health information governance literature we review resource based view, transaction cost economics and social network theory literature. We take constructs from literature and link them to the IT governance principles and to the benefits of IT cooperation. We then evaluate empirically the perceived significance of those principles and benefits with a case study and an expert survey. The empirical results confirmed that the reviewed literature establishes a solid theoretical basis to describe the formation of inter-organizational IT governance. In the expert survey, all IT governance principles and benefits proved to be important for the formation of the investigated IT governance arrangement. Furthermore, variations in evaluations were not related to demographic, situational or behavioral control variables. Our study supports the use of RBV, TCE and social network theory constructs as augments to prior IT governance constructs.

The current operational environment for organizations is changing, which has effects on IT functions and IT activities. Various forms of networks, collaborations, and alliances are operational models, which organizations are using to an increasing extent. This reality has brought with it a need for improved IT governance (ITG). ITG research for inter-organizational arrangements will be needed. In the research, the target is to identify the current state of the inter-organizational ITG research among the information systems (IS) domain. The literature review covers academic articles and conference proceedings during this millennium. The findings of the current literature review reveal that interest towards ITG research is still quite limited. The future view of inter-organizational ITG research is quite clear: more research will be needed in the inter-organizational area, which is the current playground for several organizations today.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an integral part of the daily municipal administration, production and development of municipal services. Social services and health care account for ≥ 50% of municipal ICT expenditure. Municipalities operate and develop their ICT activities with limited ICT resources. This is an incentive for inter-municipal ICT cooperation. Four sets of secondary data are analysed in this article to evaluate how ICT cooperation is carried out in 20 Finnish municipal regions. Transaction cost economics (TCE), resourcebased view (RBV), resource dependency theory (RDT) and the concepts of Granovetter's social network theory are reviewed. The data are used to describe the expected and perceived economic and social benefits of intermunicipal ICT cooperation, and to understand the social connections that influence the execution of intermunicipal ICT cooperation. The data analysis revealed distinctive differences in the amount and forms of ICT cooperation, and regarding its governance. The results suggest that public organisations were able to benefit substantially from well-organised ICT cooperation. The characteristics of social networks were also found to relate to variations in the degree to which ICT cooperation was performed.

ICT has a significant role in the development and production of municipal services, and in the daily work of municipal civil servants. Yet, municipalities typically develop and operate their ICT activities independently with limited ICT resources, both money and people. Limited resources are the key incentive for inter-municipal ICT cooperation. This article investigates how ICT cooperation is carried out within 20 municipal regions. As the theoretical basis we review transaction cost economics (TCE), resource based view (RBV) and the constructs of Granovetter's social network theory. They are used to outline potential economic and social benefits emerging from ICT cooperation and to describe social mechanisms that influence the realization of such benefits. Our empirical data reveals that there are distinct differences in the effectiveness of ICT activities, in the amount of ICT cooperation and in the governance of ICT cooperation. Our analysis reveals that the emperor will not have clothes -ICT cooperation benefits -unless the cooperation is properly organized and governed.