Regulating the digital economy: explaining heterogenous business preferences in data governance

As part of its European Data Strategy, the EU wants to create a market for non-personal data and unlock the sharing of industrial data between companies. This theory-building case study suggests that businesses' data governance preferences are determined by their position in the data value chain and thus whether firms monetise data as data holders (producers) in the upstream or as data reusers (access seekers) in the downstream segment. While the latter favour legal rules for governing data sharing, the former prefer only contractual agreements. The data value chain theory draws on concepts of the role of data in value creation in the digital economy and on case evidence from the automotive and financial sectors, which are typical cases of digital disruption. The theory helps to better understand coalition building in business lobbying activities, the potential dynamics between private self-regulation and public policies, and the probable feedback effects of digital policies on corporate power sources.