Ecosystem Orchestration Work in the Digital Transformation of Ecosystems

ABSTRACT Developing the right structure of interdependence is crucial to determining orchestrators' success in digitally transforming ecosystems and deepening value creation. Although firms' digitally transforming ecosystems represent a recent yet fast‐growing phenomenon, the current literature offers limited theoretical insights and empirical guidance on the dynamic role of orchestrators in digital transformation (DT). Hence, through a multiple case study of seven orchestrator firms and their digital ecosystems, this study introduced a framework explaining how firms digitally transform ecosystems and their structure of interdependence through multifaceted, multilevel three stages: Digital intermediation, digital envelopment, and smartification. These stages offer an alternative perspective in relation to current scholarship, which suggests that firms should pursue reducing external dependence. Building on these findings, we propose a new theoretical framework: Orchestration work in the DT of ecosystems. Implications and opportunities for further research are also discussed.