Reproducibility and Stability of the Hierarchical Structuring of Platform Social Responsibility: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach

Abstract

This study aimed to model the hierarchical structure of platform social responsibility and evaluate the reproducibility and stability of the resulting levels by examining the direct, indirect, driving, and dependence relationships among the model variables. This study employed Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) using expert-based pairwise judgments to determine the structural relationships among the dimensions and components of social responsibility in platform-based businesses. Twenty academic and professional experts with at least five years of relevant experience were selected through purposive judgmental sampling. The Structural Self-Interaction Matrix was developed from expert assessments and converted into initial and final reachability matrices through binary transformation and application of transitivity. Level partitioning was then performed to establish the hierarchical position of the variables. MICMAC analysis was used to assess driving and dependence power and to classify the variables according to their structural roles. Structural stability was evaluated by examining the persistence of hierarchical positions and influence patterns after incorporating indirect and transitive relationships. The ISM analysis produced an eight-level hierarchical structure. Social pressures, political–legal conditions, socioeconomic consequences, and access and inclusion occupied the most foundational level, whereas service quality, content protection, and environmental protection projects were positioned at the most dependent level. In the final 22-variable structural model, business model and technology and innovation demonstrated the strongest direct influence, both scoring 584, and retained high indirect influence scores of 576 and 575, respectively. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery also showed substantial direct and indirect influence, with values of 529 and 526. Waste management had the lowest direct and indirect influence values, both equal to 320. The relatively small differences between direct and indirect influence scores across major variables indicated structural consistency and supported the stability of the hierarchical configuration. The findings demonstrate that platform social responsibility is a multilayered and structurally interdependent system in which contextual, institutional, technological, and business-model variables function as upstream drivers, while operational and visible responsibility outcomes emerge at more dependent levels; the stability of direct and indirect relationships supports the reproducibility of the identified ISM hierarchy.