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Short abstract:

Hyped expectations in the digital economy are no longer the same as once, especially as depicted in ‘first-wave’ studies surrounding the Internet boom and bust. Industry analysts undergird the operation of the digital economy and its reliance on hyped expectations.

Long abstract:

Our title, ‘After Hype’, does not suggest that hype has gone away. Instead, we argue that hyped expectations are no longer the same as once, especially as depicted in ‘first-wave’ studies surrounding the Internet boom and bust. Initially, the digital economy's various evaluative frameworks were rudimentary and inchoate. Comparing the development of digital ventures today with the development of Internet dotcoms from just a couple of decades ago (Garud et al., 2019), we have been struck by the number of specialised intermediaries that now steer hype in some regard. Indeed, one of the lesser-discussed issues following the bursting of the Internet bubble has been the emergence and rapid growth of a small but powerful class of actors – the ‘industry analyst’ – who have, in some respects, ‘colonised’ discussions of hype in the digital economy in that they are widely seen as the ‘appropriate’ (Suddaby & Greenwood, 2001) knowledge provider for this phenomenon. These firms have expertise in finding hype, describing it, visualising it, and even amplifying and circulating it. They have also created a (very large) audience for their services/knowledge. In response to the tendency for promising innovations to be surrounded by hyped expectations, they began to subject venture narratives to detailed scrutiny and evaluation as a matter of routine. Our study shows that, as a result, industry analysts have come to play a pivotal role in how hyped expectations are created and circulated. Their work undergirds the operation of the digital economy and its reliance on hyped expectations.