Digital and Conventional Matchmaking – Similarities, Differences and Tensions

Abstract

Matchmaking is a process of complex resource allocation where firms are intermediaries of supply and demand between actors in an ecosystem. Digital platforms have brought matchmaking into the spotlight in IS research by their ability to scale and improve the quality of matching. In this paper, we outline four principles of digital matchmaking from digital platform theory. We continue by illustrating these principles in an empirical case-study of conventional matchmaking in the Swedish forest industry. We seek to improve the understanding of matchmaking by identifying similarities and differences of digital and conventional matchmaking. We then discuss tensions that may emerge for the conventional matchmaker facing digitalization. We contribute to theory of changing organizing logic associated with digital technology adoption and to practice by outlining what it takes becoming a digital matchmaker.