Knowledge Clusters and Ethical Dimensions in Platform Economy : A Scientometric Mapping of Twenty-Five Years

In this paper, we aim to review academic publications that delve into different aspects of the platform economy. We apply a scientific mapping approach over 1,775 articles and corresponding 71,185 cited references, extracted from the Web of Science database. Using different scientometric analysis techniques, namely, citation analysis, document co-citation analysis and social network analysis, we identify four knowledge clusters that recapitulate the main platform research issues and constitute the intellectual structure of this research domain to date. The clusters constitute published works that discuss the disruptions brought about by the platform-based business models, their economic and policy impact, national- and institutional-level digital ecosystems, and issues related to platform governance. Remarkably, we find compelling evidence of ethical issues in a good number of platform economy literature. Our ethical dimensions illustrate legal loopholes in platform economy, data privacy and security, precarious nature of platform employment, and digital discrimination. The overall findings thus not only offer valuable insights of platform knowledge structure to the researchers, practitioners and policymakers, but also provide strong support for the notion that ethical concerns remain dominant and widespread in platform-based business models that deserve our immediate attention