Service Innovation through Application Programming Interfaces - Towards a Typology of Service Designs
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2017-12-10
Author(s)
Abstract
In recent years, many firms have published public Application Programing Interfaces (APIs). However, firms struggle with how to successfully implement API-enabled service innovation. APIs are either boundary resources through which platform strategies are enacted or they represent distribution channels for software, data, or infrastructure. We use a service innovation framework to integrate ten elements that determine business-oriented API design and that were discussed by prior API research. We report the preliminary results of a cluster analysis of 96 randomly sampled and qualitatively coded APIs. We identify three archetypes of API-enabled service innovation that are characterized by distinct configurations of API elements. We use a measure of API popularity to find structural differences of the archetypes' market impact. With our planned research addressing the interplay of API design, ecosystem-based value creation strategies and API performance, we intend to contribute to theory that explains the impact of API design on digital innovation.
Funding(s)
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SoM - Business Innovation
Event Title
International Confernce on Information Systems 2017
Event Location
Seoul, South Korea
Event Date
10-13. December 2017
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
252460
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
WulfBlohm_ICIS_2017.pdf
Size
493.89 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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