Rate My Professor David Langley

David J. Langley is a Full Professor with expertise in Digital Transformation and Strategy at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen. He obtained his PhD in Economics and Business from the University of Groningen in 2009, defending his dissertation "Predicting the market demand for an innovation based on the concept of social contagion" on December 10, under the supervision of Prof. dr. T.H.A. Bijmolt. The work developed an instrument to estimate consumer demand using social contagion concepts, applicable to new ICT products prior to launch. Previously a Senior Scientist at TNO, Langley now co-chairs the Innovation Ecosystems working group of the Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI.eu) and the IEEE International Workshop on Smart Circular Economy. His inaugural professorial lecture, "A new era of organizational relationships," delivered on June 19, 2018, discussed the internet's profound effects on innovation processes, organizational strategies, and stakeholder interactions, highlighting technologies like IoT, blockchain, and AI.

Langley's research spans digital innovation, innovation intermediary practices, absorptive capacity for cross-industry digital innovation, social media enabled interactions in healthcare, gamification for climate change engagement, smart circular economy including digital product passports, digital roadmapping, servitization business models, user-centered design, and AI algorithms shaping public discourse. With 58 research outputs, his highly cited publications include "Social media use in healthcare: a systematic review of effects on patients and on their relationship with healthcare professionals" (2016, BMC Health Services Research, 1055 citations), "The Internet of Everything: Smart things and their impact on business models" (2021, Journal of Business Research, 473 citations), "Orchestrating a smart circular economy: Guiding principles for digital product passports" (2023, Journal of Business Research, 174 citations), "Gamification for climate change engagement: review of corpus and future agenda" (2021, Environmental Research Letters, 150 citations), and "Digital product-service systems: The role of data in the transition to servitization business models" (2022, Sustainability, 114 citations). Recent works feature in European Journal of Information Systems (2026) and Organization Science (2023). Langley contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals such as Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Climate Action; and Partnerships for the Goals. His expert commentary addresses sustainability transitions, AI in discourse, and digital models, enhancing academic and practical impact.