SKIN IN THE GAME : THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POTENTIAL OF DECENTRALIZED AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATIONS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ellinger, Eleunthia Wong; Gregory, Robert Wayne; Mini, Tobias; Widjaja, Thomas; Henfridsson, Ola
• 署名单位: Stockholm School of Economics; University of Miami; University of Passau
• 刊物名称: MIS QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0276-7783
• DOI: 10.25300/MISQ/2023/17690
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 245-272
• 关键词: OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE; collective action; governance; PARTICIPATION; FRAMEWORK; EVOLUTION; forms

摘要

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)-collectively owned human -machine systems deployed on a blockchain that self -govern through smart contracts and the voluntary contributions of autonomous community members-exhibit the potential to facilitate collective action in managing digital commons. Yet the promise of decentralization and collective action is difficult to sustain. To this end, this paper critically examines the transformational potential of DAOs in the case of decentralized finance. Using a polycentric governance lens, we contribute to the literature on technology -enabled forms of organizing with a model explaining the transformational potential of DAOs to facilitate collective action in digital commons. Our study highlights that (1) DAOs are a new form of organizing enabled by blockchain technology in which individuals are free to pursue their objectives within a general system of rules enforced by smart contracts, (2) collective action for managing digital commons can be sustained through a set of three mechanisms-sustained participation, collective direction, and scaled organizing, and (3) DAOs tend to strike a balance between centralized and fully decentralized or community -based governance by implementing a polycentric governance system involving a combination of human and machine agency that creates skin in the game.