Professor Youngjin Yoo
I study how digital technology transforms the way we organize, innovate, and create value. My work spans theory, architecture, and venture — from developing new economic theories of the digital firm, to designing decentralized privacy-preserving systems, to advising global companies on AI-first strategy. I am the Academic Director of LSE Lifelong Learning Digital, Senior Editor at Information Systems Research, and co-founder of Halo Harbour, a decentralized data platform for AI-enabled digital service ecosystems.
Research
Generative Externalities & the Theory of the Firm
Why do firms exist in a digital economy defined by ubiquity rather than scarcity? I develop new management and economic theories around generative externalities — computational value created constitutively at runtime — and their implications for the boundary, purpose, and design of firms.
Decentralized Architecture & Computational Sovereignty
Who controls AI infrastructure — from data centers to foundation models — and what does that mean for innovation? I study the shift from centralized platforms to decentralized architectures, exploring how layered modular designs can preserve computational sovereignty and enable responsible digital ecosystems.
Responsible Digital Innovation Ecosystems
Translating theory into working systems. Through Halo Harbour, a venture I co-founded with Erman Ayday, we build privacy-preserving, AI-enabled decentralized platforms for digital health, labour markets, financial services, and B2B supply chains. Engineering and design science research that solves intractable problems in digital innovation.
Selected Publications
- 2025 Digital Transformation in the IS field: GREAT Research Opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the GCC. Communications of the AIS, 57, 271-288.
- 2024 The Evolving Frontiers of Digital Innovation. Information Systems Research, 35(4), 1507-1523.
- 2024 Evolving Epistemic Infrastructure: Scientific Journals in the Age of Generative AI. Journal of the AIS, 25(1), 137-144.
- 2024 Digital Sustainability Strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives.
- 2023 Software Components and Product Variety in a Digital Platform Ecosystem. Information Systems Research, 34(4), 1339-1374.
- 2022 From Lock-In to Transformation: A Path-Centric Theory. Organization Science, 33(1), 194-211.
- 2022 Designing Digital Market Offerings. MIS Quarterly, 46(3), 1453-1482.
Teaching
Current — LSE
- AI-First Strategy
- Digital Innovation & Transformation
Executive Education
- Digital-First Strategy for LG Academy
- Design Thinking for Innovation
- Corporate programs
Previous Courses
- Designing Complex Socio-technical Systems
- Leading by Design
- Scientific Inquiry of Management Research
- Designing Urban Digital Start-ups
PhD Supervision
Dissertation chair for 10 doctoral students across Case Western Reserve and Temple University, including Nicholas Berente (2008, ICIS Best Dissertation Award), Sungyong Um (2016), Zhewei Zhang (2016), and Kaige Gao (2025). Currently recruiting PhD students at LSE through Bloomberg Philanthropies studentships.
News
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Dec 2025Three papers at ICIS 2025 Copenhagen, including “No AI Without Data” and “Temporality of Organizational Knowledge in Generative AI Systems”
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Oct 2025Keynote at AICON, Gwangju, South Korea: “AI as an Ecosystem”
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Sep 2025Keynote at SIGDITE PDW, Hamburg: “It is all over now, baby blue”
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Jun 2025Joined the London School of Economics as Professor of Information Systems & Innovation
Writing
Essays on digital innovation, AI strategy, and the future of firms on The Digital First (Substack).
Why, What, and How
Three questions of the digital journey — reflections on nine years in Cleveland.
Open Data 2.0: A Digital Revolution for All
At the heart of the AI revolution is data. Without data, AI is nothing.
In 2024, Let’s Make AI Boring
Transformative technologies become invisible yet indispensable.
Subscribe to The Digital First for essays on digital innovation, AI, and the future of organizing.