Regulation.com : self-regulation and contract governance in the platform economy : a research agenda

Abstract

This essay looks at the role of online platforms as rule-makers. The disruption of the Platform Economy has come hand in hand with a broader transformation: the emergence of a post-regulatory society, which feels more and more comfortable with transacting outside conventional legal and regulatory frameworks. This has raised the question as to how to regulate these platforms, if at all. This short piece focuses on how platform businesses are developing their own governance frameworks based on self-regulation, trust, and reputation, which create incentives for online traders to comply with the platforms' terms and conditions.Due to reputational enforcement and network effects, platforms act as powerful gatekeepers of online markets, displaying features of governance through contract. By recommending the use of contract governance as an analytical framework, this essay proposes a research agenda to examine the extent to which these emerging governance frameworks act as a competing alternative to existing forms of State-provided market regulation.