Research on the Openness of Digital Platforms Based on Entropy-Weighted TOPSIS: Evidence from China

Wei Fu (), Jie Sun () and Xiaodong Lee
Additional contact information
Wei Fu: School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100080, China
Jie Sun: Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100032, China
Xiaodong Lee: School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100080, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Regarding digital platforms in recent years, the abuse of a platform’s dominant position, applications monitoring user behaviour, the difficulty of exiting digital platforms, and the inability of users to transfer data on platforms have become increasingly acute, which makes the evaluation of the openness of digital platforms extremely urgent. This paper applies the relatively objective entropy-weighted TOPSIS method to construct a digital platform openness index (DPOI) to evaluate the openness of 22 digital platforms in China. The research found that there are certain institutional constraints and obstacles in the access, transaction, exit, and transfer of different types of digital platform, and it is necessary to sustainably improve the openness of digital platforms to bring convenience to users in the future. Our results not only update the practical data on the openness of emerging digital platforms, but also enrich the literature in the field of digital platform openness, which has significant implications for evaluating the openness of digital platforms in emerging markets such as China.

Keywords: digital platform; openness; entropy-weighted TOPSIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3322/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3322/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3322-:d:1065167

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().