Data Philanthropy: Corporate Responsibility with Strategic Value?

ABSTRACT

Data philanthropy is a corporate gift of data, data resources such as analysts, and/or data technologies such as software, computing power, and storage. Yet data philanthropy is unlike other corporate philanthropy because data assets are non-rivalrous and can be shared without diminishment. Data can even become more valuable through sharing and collaboration. This paper explores data philanthropy and how it can benefit both donor firms and society through a model and several propositions.

KEYWORDS:

• Data philanthropy
• data collaboration
• resource based view
• corporate social responsibility
• corporate philanthropy

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jordana J. George

Jordana J. George is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Information Systems in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems at Baylor University. She holds an MBA from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of California at Davis. A former manager with two decades in client services, technical support, and general management at technology companies and educational institutions, she researches data management and the social impact of information systems. Jordana is also the Managing Editor for Workshops at the Journal of the Association of Information Systems.

Jie (Kevin) Yan

Jie (Kevin) Yan is an assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain, Information Systems and Analytics at Dalton State College. Kevin received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Baylor University. Before beginning his Ph.D., Kevin possessed over 6 years of work experience in the Telecom and Datacom industries. He worked for companies including Ericsson AB, Cisco Systems and General Electric (GE). His research focuses on IT consumerization, online user innovation communities and Fintech lending.

Dorothy E. Leidner

Dorothy E. Leidner, PhD is the Ferguson Professor of Information Systems at Baylor University. Dorothy received her PhD in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin and an honorary doctorate from Lund University. She is a Fellow of the Association of Information Systems and is the editor-in-chief for the Journal of the Association of Information Systems. Dorothy is widely published in such journals as Management Information Systems Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Organization Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences Journal, and Journal of Strategic Information Systems, among others. For more information, visit https://blogs.baylor.edu/dorothy_leidner/