Digital platforms have become an integral part of the modern economy, serving as essential conduits for interactions among diverse actors such as individuals, businesses, and communities.
From a definitional standpoint, digital platforms can be understood in a twofold manner: from a technological standpoint, platforms can be described as an extensible code base to which third-party modules can be added; from a sociotechnical standpoint, platforms can be seen as a confluence of technical elements and organizational processes and standards. These definitions can be extended to conceptualize a digital platform as a multifaceted digital infrastructure comprising software, hardware, operations, complementors, and networks.
Platforms shape dynamically (and operate in) an environment characterized by rapid technological changes, shifting user preferences, and intense competition. Therefore, digital platforms are exposed to multiple internal (of their own making) and external fluctuations, potentially threatening their long-term viability. With this premises, the role of resilient thought becomes a key element to understand how platforms adapt, respond to, and even mediate unforeseen challenges across multiple levels of analysis. Nonetheless, it seems that a pivotal resilience property – i.e., panarchy – has not been taken into the right consideration by the extant digital platforms’ literature. This is especially surprising given the role of digital platforms in shaping the socio-economic landscape. Thus, the aim of this track is to call for studies which aims to uncover this panarchy property through the lens of microfoundations.
Indeed, the microfoundations perspective would offer a nuanced approach to this issue, allowing for an exploration that extends beyond the platform level to focus on the behaviors and roles of individual participants, such as users, developers, and providers. This perspective is instrumental for informing governance and design strategies aimed at enhancing platform resilience.
Digital platforms – understood at the same time as extensible code bases to which third-party modules can be added; and as a confluence of technical elements and organizational processes and rules – are not isolated entities but rather interdependent dots within a broader network that connects people, organizations, and public institutions. They function as intermediaries, bridging the gap between market or societal forces and individual relationships. This intermediary role enables external organizations to develop complementary products, technologies, or services, thereby forming the basis of what can be conceptualized as a metaorganizational understanding of platform ecosystems; i.e. structures that are less formal and less hierarchical than traditional firms but more closely coupled than traditional markets. This metaorganizational configuration provides a fertile ground for understanding digital platforms as intermediate and hybrid structures that blend elements of both market-based and hierarchical power and incentives.
Therefore, rooted in a microfoundations perspective, this track aims to delve into the resilience of digital platforms, bridging the gap between literature on digital platforms and microfoundations, offering insights into the role of resilience in digital platforms. It also aims to enrich the debate by examining digital platforms as socioeconomic microfoundations themselves.
We welcome original contributions related to both theoretical and practical aspects, adopting different theoretical lenses and worldviews. Using different research methods, analysing different types of platforms, and exploring the topic in different countries is strongly encouraged. Interdisciplinary works as well as industry–academia joint research efforts are welcome as well. The following topics are indicative but not exhaustive:

• social and economic representations for platform resilience;
• panarchy of digital platforms;
• perspectives on configuration, fuzzy boundaries, and actors’ roles in digital platforms’ design through the lens of microfoundations;
• platforms as microfoundations of the socioeconomic landscape;
• marketplace resilience strategies for attracting and maintaining users and complementors;
• social outcomes, and narratives of digital platforms;
• power shift and regulatory mechanisms;
• lock-in effects, echo chambers, and filter bubbles.

Antonio La Sala, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Francesca Iandolo, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Giuliano Maielli, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Pietro Vito, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy