Cultivating a ‘Digital Jungle’ : Toward a Hybrid Governance Perspective on Infrastructure Evolution

Abstract

Digital infrastructures (DIs) evolve rather than following planned development trajectories. We know this phenomenon as drift, that is, infrastructures drift from management control. Infrastructure drift has motivated research into infrastructure governance recognizing two governance approaches: top-down and bottom-up. Yet, what happens if an organization engaging in its digital transformation expands its DI following top-down governance while simultaneously introducing elements of bottomup governance? We study how an industrial manufacturer expanded its DI for collaboration top-down while also giving employees leeway for bottom-up governance. As a result, it found that its digital collaboration infrastructure evolved into – what the informants depicted as – a digital jungle. Theorizing this concept and its emergence, we contribute to research on DIs. Firstly, we provide a framework explaining the manufacturer’s DI’s evolution into a digital jungle. Secondly, we argue that this concept captures user’s perspective on DI evolution signifying the importance for developing a hybrid infrastructure governance perspective.