Research Overview:

• This research identified and addressed a research gap on the study of fintech product development practices through the examination of how a digital banking application was shaped through social interaction.
• The main empirical contribution was a case study of Monzo Bank, notable for having invited consumers to participate in product development through a popular online community forum.
• Applying qualitative research methods to a sample of online community forum threads, producer-consumer interactions were analysed to understand how they shaped product development outcomes, and what the limitations of these interactions were.
• This research highlighted the variation in meanings about technology products that are held by held by different social groups, as well as the human, socially contingent decision-making involved in determining a technology product’s final form.
• In the context of current debates about the development trajectories of powerful emerging technologies, such as AI, this research provides evidence that broadening participation during early product development has the potential to support more equitable product outcomes, with wider social acceptance.
• However, this research also found that broadening participation may have a limited impact on the course of product development if unbalanced producer-consumer power dynamics are not managed, for example, through policy or regulatory interventions.

Theoretical Framework:

• The primary theoretical framework applied in this research was the **Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)** theory, first developed by the Dutch historian and sociologist of technology Wiebe Bijker.

Thesis Structure and Key Findings:

• For the empirical contribution of this thesis, producer-consumer exchanges about product development were analysed.
• Key findings included:

Policy Relevance:

• Insights from this thesis could be applied by policymakers currently navigating the development of high-stakes technologies such as AI and Digital ID schemes.

To discuss this topic further or to read the thesis in full - ‘The Social Construction of a Fintech Product: A Case Study of Monzo Bank’, please contact me on Linkedin.