Issues in inter-organizational data sharing: Findings from practice and research challenges

Sharing data is highly potent in assisting companies in internal optimization and designing new products and services. While the benefits seem obvious, sharing data is accompanied by a spectrum of concerns ranging from fears of sharing something of value, unawareness of what will happen to the data, or simply a lack of understanding of the short- and mid-term benefits. The article analyzes data sharing in inter-organizational relationships by examining 13 cases in a qualitative interview study and through public data analysis. Given the importance of inter-organizational data sharing as indicated by large research initiatives such as Gaia-X and Catena-X, we explore issues arising in this process and formulate research challenges. We use the theoretical lens of Actor-Network Theory to analyze our data and entangle its constructs with concepts in data sharing.