Digital Economies and Corporate Accountability: Emerging Challenges for Public Interest Governance
DOI: https://doie.org/10.10399/IJBE.2026641301
Dr. Parul Agrawal, Dr. Seema Chaudhary, Shreya Goel, Student, Srishti Goel, Dr. Satakshi Sharma
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Keywords:
Digital Economies, Corporate Accountability, AI Governance, Public Interest Governance, Platform Governance, Algorithmic Transparency, Digital Regulation, ESG Governance
Abstract:
The rapid expansion of digital economies has significantly transformed traditional corporate governance structures, public regulatory systems, and accountability mechanisms across global markets. The increasing dominance of digital platforms, artificial intelligence (AI), data-driven business models, and algorithmic decision-making systems has created new governance asymmetries between transnational corporations and public institutions. While digital transformation has accelerated innovation, economic efficiency, and market connectivity, it has simultaneously generated major concerns related to algorithmic opacity, data concentration, surveillance practices, privacy erosion, and weakened public-interest protection. Existing governance frameworks often struggle to regulate rapidly evolving digital ecosystems due to fragmented regulations, limited institutional capacity, and cross-border enforcement challenges. This conceptual paper examines emerging corporate accountability challenges within digital economies and analyzes their implications for public-interest governance. Drawing upon stakeholder theory, institutional theory, governance theory, and algorithmic accountability perspectives, the study critically evaluates governance deficits arising from AI-enabled corporate ecosystems and platform-centric economic structures. The paper further explores how governance asymmetry contributes to transparency deficits, regulatory dependency, and declining public trust in digital governance systems. The study proposes an integrated public-interest governance framework emphasizing algorithmic transparency, AI accountability audits, digital ESG governance standards, and collaborative multi-stakeholder regulation. The paper contributes to the growing digital governance literature by conceptually integrating corporate accountability, AI governance, and public-interest regulation into a unified governance perspective for sustainable and ethically accountable digital economies.