Decision Criteria for Selecting Data Infrastructure Design Options in the Private Sector

Data infrastructures are foundational for creating economic and social value through data sharing. Yet, building sustainable and long-lasting data infrastructures for inter-organizational data sharing in the private sector remains a complex undertaking. A key challenge lies in designing data infrastructure services that reconcile the diverse requirements of the actors involved, including the choice of suitable architectural options (e.g., centralized versus decentralized). Drawing on a two-cycle Design Science Research approach with European practitioners, we propose a set of core decision criteria for data infrastructure design options in the private sector. Our study advances IS literature by enriching design knowledge on private data infrastructure services. Additionally, we improve the understanding of private data infrastructures by delimiting their core concerns from those of general software systems. Practitioners can apply our findings in the design and development of data infrastructures to make more informed decisions.