Developing a Framework for Evaluating the Digital Platform Economy

The current digital revolution has given rise to a new organizational form, the Platform company. Today, the most valuable companies in the world and the first ones with a market value of more than a trillion dollars are platform companies. The Platform Economy is developing at an exponential rate and has become a top priority for governments across the world.The present study aims to provide a framework for evaluating the Digital Platform Economy at the international level. Utilizing a systematic review and meta-synthesis approach, the Platform Economy dimensions are identified as Digital Users, Digital Entrepreneurs, Digital Platforms, Digital Infrastructure, Innovation Capacity, and Institutional Environment and by extracting relevant indicators from international reports, the Platform Economy Composite Index is developed.Using the Partial Least Squares-Path Modelling (PLS-PM) method and specifically the Higher-Order Construct model, the measurement model is validated, and by employing a non-compensatory aggregation method, the Platform Economy Composite Index ranks 128 countries. The study is concluded by scrutinizing Iran’s current status regarding the enabling factors of the platform economy and identifying its strengths and weaknesses and providing recommendations for improvement. The results indicate that although Iran’s current status in terms of demand-side enablers is relatively good, it faces serious issues in terms of supply-side enablers.