Beyond the Golden Record: Toward a Design Theory for Trustworthy Master Data Management with Self-Sovereign Identity

2026-04-13

AI Summary

This study addresses the strategic lock-in and operational risks organizations face when relying on commercial data intermediaries to ensure the timeliness and reliability of master data. It pioneers the systematic integration of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) into master data management by synthesizing insights from hermeneutic literature review, expert interviews, and design science research methodologies. The resulting design theory embeds a trustworthy master data management framework within a data space reference architecture, emphasizing data sovereignty, reliability, and accountability. Validated through evaluation by industry experts, the proposed framework enables trusted, controllable data sharing and governance within data ecosystems.

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Multiagent Systems: Other Foundations of Multi Agent Systems
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Semantics and Knowledge: Provenance, trust, security and privacy, and ethical issues in managing semantic data
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications

Abstract

Ensuring the timeliness and reliability of master data remains a persistent challenge for many organizations. To mitigate these quality deficits, organizations frequently rely on commercial data brokers. However, this practice creates strategic dependencies and poses significant business risks, particularly as providers typically disclaim liability for the accuracy of the supplied data. In contrast, modern data ecosystems enable the trusted sharing of data assets with strong data sovereignty. In this paper, we address this paradigm shift by deriving a nascent design theory for trustworthy master data management based on self-sovereign identity. The theory is grounded through a hermeneutic literature review combined with industry expert interviews and instantiated through integration into a reference architecture for data spaces. Following an evaluation through additional industry expert interviews, our work provides a framework for a trustworthy master data management in data ecosystems that is reliable, sovereign, and accountable.

Problem

• master data management
• data quality
• self-sovereign identity
• data sovereignty
• trustworthy data

Innovation

• Self-Sovereign Identity
• Master Data Management
• Data Ecosystems
• Design Theory
• Data Sovereignty