Modalities of Data Diplomacy: How Negotiations Shape Data Governance in Practice

Multiple actors increasingly work with data across organizational boundaries. While prior research has emphasized formal roles and frameworks, we know little about how tensions around who gets to own, access, and control data are negotiated in practice. In this paper, we advance data diplomacy as a framing to examine how negotiations about data governance are carried out when diverse actors with heterogeneous interests must collaborate. Drawing on a phenomenon-focused interview study with 12 data professionals, we identify how data diplomacy unfolds either “at the table” or in the “doorway”, through backchannel talks or with charter agreements. We develop a matrix of four modalities that explain how data professionals adopt relational strategies that vary in timing and formality to navigate tensions from multi-actor complexity in data governance. Our insights on data diplomacy contribute to IS research by showing how data governance frameworks and policies are enacted through negotiation and interpersonal engagement in everyday work.